Changing Our Stories

How do we change the stories we tell ourselves and develop a growth mindset?

Some background: My cousin was freaking out. She’s been a nurse for practically her entire adult life, and will be teaching her first nursing class next week. Stuck in her head is a time thirty years ago when she taught Sunday school and the class did not go well. She was young, unprepared, and not adequately trained. The story she told herself then was that she is “a terrible teacher” and “a failure.”

All these years later, those doubts are creeping back. Growing up in our extended family was to grow up with a fixed mindset: if something does not come easily, then you are not good at it, and therefore should not pursue it. Trust me when I tell you, that being a creative entrepreneur does not fit in our family.

But my cousin’s story has changed. She is no longer a deeply inexperienced young adult in front of an unmotivated group. She has a deep well of professional experience that she can draw on to engage her students. Her students are motivated to learn. She wants to do well and wants her students to do well.

It may not come easy, but she can do it. Just wanting to do it is a step on the path to growth.