## Colophon tags:: url:: https://www.readkindredspirits.com/p/identity-is-just-narrative-waiting %% title:: identity is just narrative waiting for evidence type:: [[clipped-note]] author:: [[@readkindredspirits.com]] %% ## Notes > It’s funny how so many of the stories I carry around came from throwaway moments that warped into load-bearing pillars in my mental architecture. — [view in context](https://hyp.is/-_WNiPHxEe-QT9vRwt8V5g/www.readkindredspirits.com/p/identity-is-just-narrative-waiting) > We’re such selective archivists; we think we need mountains of evidence before believing something about ourselves, but let a single casual comment become gospel. — [view in context](https://hyp.is/BCYP3PHyEe-HgY8GpM8Zfw/www.readkindredspirits.com/p/identity-is-just-narrative-waiting) > identity is just narrative waiting for evidence — [view in context](https://hyp.is/3Lc5UPH-Ee-XLL_PfyvITA/www.readkindredspirits.com/p/identity-is-just-narrative-waiting) ⬆️ date:: [[2025-02-23]] > I've been playing with this idea that some stories are worth believing not because they're capital-T True, but because they make life more interesting and generative. — [view in context](https://hyp.is/BB08avH_Ee-3fOfIKwT69g/www.readkindredspirits.com/p/identity-is-just-narrative-waiting) ⬆️ So much of politics :) > Strange how we demand absolute truth when, really, truth is just a seed waiting for time and attention. — [view in context](https://hyp.is/MZVGJPH_Ee-ZLne8bvCbWQ/www.readkindredspirits.com/p/identity-is-just-narrative-waiting) ⬆️ I cannot ignore the propaganda implications of this 😂 > I remember my friend S telling me that our identity was like “this collaborative Google Doc that’s commented on and revised by everyone we meet”. Depending on the size of the change, updating your story also involves hoping others will update their version of you, too. “You? Run?” wasn’t just a comment about my athletic ability; it was about my friend maintaining his story of who I was in relation to him. — [view in context](https://hyp.is/Za8rDvIAEe-Hu1tephGQCw/www.readkindredspirits.com/p/identity-is-just-narrative-waiting) ⬆️ Similar thing in 185 of Conversations with friends (Sally Rooney) about a relationship being a ‘Word document’ that they were ‘writing and editing together’ > It’s funny, but strangers became my best allies when I was shifting some of my stories precisely because they were reading me with fresh eyes, without all the tracked changes and revision history. — [view in context](https://hyp.is/a4mEcPIAEe-IohMg_ViB5w/www.readkindredspirits.com/p/identity-is-just-narrative-waiting) > But it serves us to remember that, ultimately, we get to choose. We can just… do the thing. The world has this wonderful way of shifting slightly on its axis to make space for your new dimension. Even better, you start attracting new people to whom this side of you is completely natural. — [view in context](https://hyp.is/eVLJLPIAEe-MMjegU2kwdg/www.readkindredspirits.com/p/identity-is-just-narrative-waiting) > Of course, there’s a baseline for this experiment to really work: you have to have a certain amount of self-trust. I think it’s both the foundation and the reward of story-shifting. You need some amount of trust in yourself to try on new stories, but each successful shift builds more trust, creating this beautiful feedback loop. — [view in context](https://hyp.is/g_ICqPIAEe-36QsMd9AnoA/www.readkindredspirits.com/p/identity-is-just-narrative-waiting)