Imagine you were to take someone on a tour of your mind.

What would they see? Would thoughts be organized and free-flowing? Or, would your mind be cluttered with worry and anxiety?

What would they hear? Would they hear a positive narrator speaking kindness? Or would they hear a narration full of lies and anxiety?

When it comes to the health of our minds, a lot of emphasis is put on managing our thoughts and changing our perspective.

One way of doing this is understanding how you narrate certain aspects of your life.

Most people inflict Narrative Damage on themselves, and they don’t even know it.

What Is Narrative Damage?

Narrative Damage stems from a disconnect between yourself and reality, coupled with the narrative you’re building in your mind.

Let’s say, for example, that you text your girlfriend ‘good morning’ and she doesn’t reply to you all day. It’s dinner time, and she still hasn’t responded, which is unlike her.

Narrative Damage sounds like

• “She doesn’t like me anymore.”

• “She’s planning to break up with m.e”

• “She got in a car accident on the way home from work.”

Narrative Damage goes so far as to impact not only how you narrate situations in your mind, but also how you live your life.

Narrative Damage looks like

• Being paralyzed by your thoughts and unable to do the tasks at hand

• Not being yourself, being closed off and quiet

• Isolating yourself from others

• Being overly reactive

Narrative Damage feels like

• Feelings of anxiousness or overwhelm

• Tightness in your chest or a headache/stomach ache

Being aware of how you narrate the events in your life is key to better handling your mental health and becoming deeply aware of who you are.

The next time you experience a highly overwhelming, anxious, or emotional situation, take a step back and analyze the narration that is happening in your mind.

Is it one that is damaging your thought process, interpretation of events, and outlook on life?

Or is it one that promotes self-awareness and growth and aligns with reality?

If your girlfriend hasn’t responded to you all day, a positive narrative sounds like

• “I remember she had a busy day at work. She’s probably just tired.”

• “She probably read my text message but just forgot to respond, and everything is totally fine.”

The way you choose to interpret and thus narrate events in your life is crucial to your being able to have a positive outlook.

I struggle with inflicting narrative damage on myself. It’s not a healthy practice as it impacts how I view myself, my relationships, and my life.

It also impacts the lives of those around me, which is perhaps the worst part.

I’ve been working towards improving my inner monologue and narration of my life and the things that happen in it.

So, I’m here to offer you the tips I’ve learned over the past year to start to improve your overall life.

#1 Learn to Disrupt Your Thought Patterns

Learning how to disrupt your thought patterns allows you greater control over the anxious, overwhelming, and often false thoughts you have.

In order to disrupt your damaging narratives, you have to be able to recognize the formation of a damaged narrative before it’s fully developed.

If you allow a damaging narrative to play all the way through, then it’s already too late.

Having the ability to recognize the onset of narrative damage and cutting it short is key.

One way to disrupt your thought patterns is by redirecting your attention. You do this by giving your attention to another thought, the task at hand, or some form of entertainment.

Although the latter is not a preferred method of redirecting your thoughts, it is a pretty efficient way to do so. But know that this is often a temporary solution and only serves to numb yourself to your feelings.

#2 View Your Reality From a Third-Person POV

The level of self-awareness it takes to objectively observe your reality from a non-biased third-person point of view is one that takes intentional practice to be good at.

The way that I try to view my reality from a third-person POV is by literally imagining myself looking down upon my life and my specific situation, and observing it with no emotion.

Another way I try to do this is by viewing my situation as if one of my best friends just explained this situation as her own, and the advice given and perspective I would take as their friend.

Finally, I brainstorm 3–5 different ways I could interpret the situation at hand, and I intentionally choose to interpret it the best possible way, instead of the way my mind naturally wants to.

Getting good at perceiving your reality from a third-party POV completely changes your attitude toward situations and the internal narration you have.

It allows you to have a better grip on reality, curb anxiety, and live an overall happier life.

#3 Meditate

I only recently started practicing meditation on a daily basis, and I only have good things to report thus far.

I meditate every day for five minutes in the morning and whenever I feel overwhelmed or anxious by the thoughts in my mind.

However you choose to meditate, focusing on your breathing or your body, or trying to clear your mind, allows you to reset your internal compass and start navigating in the right direction.

Recently, I had a 6-hour road trip by myself, and at the beginning of the road trip, I started grossly overanalyzing my life, and I became unbearably overwhelmed and riddled with anxiety.

I knew that if I did not take action right now, this was going to be my reality for the next six hours. Six hours of overthinking my life, feeling anxious, and probably crying.

So, I decided to reroute my thought process and do five minutes of guided meditation.

I don’t know what it was, but I instantly felt better, had a grip on my thoughts, and made it to my destination without another overwhelming thought.

Real Talk

The great thing about all three of these tips is that once you’ve intentionally practiced them long enough, you’re more naturally inclined to do them.

You go from self-inflicted damaging narratives to self-inflicted positive narratives.

It’s really hard to control your thoughts and your mind, and you likely never will be able to fully.

But there are things you can do to improve the way you naturally think, the way your mind wants to operate.

Ultimately, you get to choose how you narrate your life and the events that take place. You get to choose how you interpret them. So make the choice to interpret them positively, seeing others in the best light possible, and knowing that all things work out for the greater good.