What if some of the things we experience as fixed realities in our lives are actually stories we’ve been telling ourselves for so long that we’ve forgotten they’re stories?

In this episode of Conversations for Change, Becky explores the often-unconscious narratives that shape how we see ourselves, what we believe we’re capable of, and what we allow ourselves to imagine for our lives.

Drawing on a transformative experience from many years ago, Becky shares how a three-day program invited her to reconnect with dreams she had set aside—and then confront the stories she had created about why those dreams were no longer possible. The challenge was simple but profound: If you choose to keep the story, you may also be choosing to give up the dream.

That experience became the beginning of more than a year of meeting regularly with a small group of people committed to questioning old stories, taking meaningful action, and supporting one another as they created different lives. Through openness, vulnerability and the willingness to be lovingly called back into awareness, those conversations became a catalyst for real change.

But the episode reaches beyond our individual stories.

What happens when we begin asking the same questions about the stories we hold collectively? What new possibilities become visible when we stop assuming we already know what can and cannot be done?

Near the end, Becky recalls a question that changed her perspective decades ago. Faced with a situation she had never encountered before, she was reminded of something obvious but liberating: She had never done this before.

So why should she already know how?

What if, instead, she could approach it as a game she’d never played before—and simply see what could happen?

Perhaps humanity is standing in a similar place now.

We are living through enormous change without a finished instruction manual for what comes next. And rather than demanding that we already know the answers, perhaps we can give ourselves permission to become curious again—to question the stories we’ve inherited, experiment, imagine, and discover possibilities we couldn’t see from inside the old story.

Because sometimes the first step toward changing our lives—or our world—is simply recognizing:

That’s a story I’m telling myself.

And then asking:

What else could be true?

Topics explored

• The stories we unconsciously tell ourselves
• How childhood experiences shape our worldview
• The difference between reality and our interpretation of reality
• Dreams we’ve abandoned along the way
• Recognizing the stories that keep us stuck
• Self-awareness and the observer perspective
• Vulnerability and being truly seen
• The transformative power of supportive community
• Moving from powerlessness to choice
• Letting go of old narratives
• Creating new possibilities
• Navigating change without already knowing the answers
• Personal and collective transformation