Many times in life we do everything within our power to achieve our goal, whether that be a new job, to bring pride to others or ourselves, and to finally get over that hurdle our mental health has been lately. It’s easy to forget how far you’ve come when you see how far you still have left to go, but that doesn’t mean you can’t celebrate your accomplishments now.
246: How Your Authentic Self Changes With Time
243: While Your Mindset Shifts Over Time, Your Purpose May Not
Sometimes in life we will all have moments where we think to ourselves, “Is this really who I want to be? Is this how I want my story to impact others?” and we either wonder or plan for the next steps in becoming the person we want to be.
In this episode Sarah Elkins and her guest Tony Michaelides, an accomplished Author and former Music Industry Executive, discuss the importance of being authentic in your stories and how they influence your audience in a way that is for the better, instead of being outrageous and telling your stories for the perceived “glory” of having a legacy.
Episode 97: Your Identity is Created by the Stories You Share
Family Narratives Can Impact Your Identity - For Better or For Worse
Dr. Kate McLean
Dr. Kate McLean was raised by a man who loved to share stories. Her father is a master storyteller, entertaining family and friends for hours with his sense of humor and insights. It’s not surprising that Kate found herself compelled by the narratives she heard in her first research position, focused on attachment theory in human development and psychology. She was so touched by the trust of people sharing their most intimate memories and experiences, that she knew her area of focus would revolve around the impact of telling those stories on the people sharing them and on the people hearing them.
Some of her colleagues focus their research on early childhood narrative, Kate’s area of interest revolves more around the transformative years between young adulthood and adulthood, roughly 17 - 22 years old.
She finds that the stories parents and caregivers share about their children in front of them, can have positive and negative effects in terms of their relationship, and how the young adult moves through those transformative years.
If the stories a parent or caregiver share about the young adult’s childhood don’t fit how that young adult sees themselves and how they are transforming into adulthood, conflict develops between them, and the transformation can become stilted.
On the other hand, if the narrative continues to resonate with the young adult, it may help them move forward with confidence in their identity as they move into adulthood.
Our conversation took some twists and turns, one thing that struck me was our mutual respect and admiration for those who share their stories with us. When someone chooses to trust you with their most intimate memories, we must respect that story and the person sharing it.
Learn more about Dr. McLean’s work, and check out her book, The Co-Authored Self.
Kate C. McLean, Professor of Psychology at Western Washington University, was trained in Developmental and Personality Psychology at the University of California, Santa Cruz (Ph.D., 2004). Her research focuses on adolescent and emerging adult identity development. She is on the governing council for the Society for the Study of Emerging Adulthood, and is an Associate Editor for the Journal Personality and Social Psychology: PPID. She teaches courses in Developmental and Personality Psychology, as well as research methods. She currently serves as the Director for the Center for Cross-Cultural Research at WWU.