What story am I in?

In 1949, the American scholar Joseph Campbell published The Hero with a Thousand Faces. Drawing on Jung's idea of archetypes, he argued that myths from all over the world share a deep pattern: a hero leaves home, faces trials, and returns changed.

Decades later, George Lucas said Campbell's book helped him shape Star Wars. But Jung's point was that these patterns don't only live in myths and films. We live them too, often without noticing which story we've been cast in.

Archetypes are the familiar roles that recur across stories: the caretaker, the rebel, the outsider, the hero, the orphan. Sometimes we slip into one so fully that it starts making our choices for us.

The caretaker who looks after everyone and is quietly exhausted. The outsider who expects not to belong, and keeps finding proof. Naming the role, in your own words, lets you see it from the outside.

Then you can ask whether it's a role you'd choose. Roles aren't fixed identities, and the next chapter can be written differently.

• Narrative therapy

  Michael White and David Epston developed a therapy that helps people re-author the stories they tell about their lives.

• ACT

  Name the story: noticing a familiar storyline loosens its grip.

Think of a situation where you keep ending up in the same position.

Your answers stay in this page and aren't saved or sent anywhere.

You always end up organising everything for your friends, and you're starting to resent it. What would "What story am I in?" ask?