Our stories change over time. As we grow older and wiser, we gain a better understanding of who we are and what happened to us, and we get to revisit our story—the one we tell ourselves and the one we share with others.
Brené Brown says, "Owning our story can be hard, but not nearly as difficult as spending our lives running from it." I stopped running from my story when I got into recovery. I haven't loved all the new pieces of my story that have been revealed to me since, whether those pieces came to me from someone else's telling or emerged through some therapist's skillful guidance.
I am inclined to leave various details out when I share my story, not because those details have power over me or cause me shame but because some parts of my story are deeply entwined with other people's stories, and it's not my place to write or talk about what happened for them. I own my story and I'm proud of it.
I'm curious to see how my story ends. This is my story, and I'm sticking to it.
What's yours? Are you owning it?