In recent conversations with friends I haven’t seen for years, I became aware of the risk of talking about the ongoing effects of my concussion.
The concussion event happened four years ago. Focusing on the effects of the concussion (I struggle using screens for more than 25 minutes at a time) I realised I was in danger of getting stuck in my story.
While it’s understandable that the concussion and its effects become a focus — hell, there’s a lot to process and integrate, which takes time — getting stuck in part of a story prevents any development and growth. And quite frankly, I was getting bored of hearing myself on repeat.
In a subsequent conversation I was urged to imagine what the next part of my story might be. That is, I’m now mostly working in an analogue way, one without screens and with people.
Recognising I have many aspects to my identity was the start of avoiding my story trap.
And because of where the conversation had been and the way my brain works I imagined a combination of the following two images: the olive atomic construction and the cluster map.
I could picture my story being made up of various different elements that are connected. Each node being part of my make-up, of my story.
Seeing the various interconnected nodes (like the atomic olives) it's possible to imagine what other stories we might tell by entering the model at a different node. It’s easy to shift our focus and starting point.
Rather than starting at “Concussion”, what if I start at “Lighthaus”? Or “Artist”, or “Someone who writes”, or “Analogue”?
With the atomic-olive-cluster-map model we have many different points of access to start our stories. We can begin to describe our experiences in new ways. And perhaps we could even begin to map out new experiences.
Or, put another way, change your olive, change your story.