Is Your Flat-Tire A Life Changing Story Event Or Just An Occurrence?

Welcome back!

My last post, “How Your Flat-Tire Stories Change Your Life,” made the point that the story of your life is made up of your responses to your unexpected flat-tire events.

A Flat-Tire As A Metaphor

A “flat-tire” is a metaphor for some unexpected occurrence that intrudes into your ordinary life and forces you to respond somehow.

Our lives are filled with flat-tires. But is every flat-tire an event that triggers some sort of change in your life? It depends on whether your flat-tire is an occurrence or an event.

The Difference Between A Flat-Tire Occurrence And A Flat-Tire Event

A flat-tire occurrence is something that requires you to react in some way but does not require you to change. In contrast, a flat-tire event forces you to change your life in some way.

No Big Deal

Let’s go back to the original scenario. If you get up, have breakfast, and on your way to work, your car has a flat tire, the flat tire doesn’t have to be a big deal. You have a spare. You have the tools. You have a jack. You’ve changed tires before. So, you get out of your car. You change the tire. It takes only a few minutes. After you change the tire, you drive to work and still get there on time. This is an occurrence. You might mention it to other people, but it is very unlikely you will spend the rest of the day at the water cooler talking about it.

No Story Here

There’s no story in this flat tire because you didn’t have to make any life changing decisions. You didn’t have to learn anything new. You didn’t have to do anything scary or difficult. You did what most of us do in our lives.

Most of the time, we deal with tasks, problems, and situations as they come up and go on with our lives, doing what we need to do when we need to do it.

This is ordinary life. No one is going to make a movie about someone who has a flat tire, changes the tire with no complications, and then goes on to work. There’s no life changing story event in this. This is just a flat tire.

A Flat-Tire Event

What turns a flat-tire occurrence into a flat-tire event? Anything that takes you out of your ordinary competence and forces you to do something you have never done before is a “flat-tire event.” When the metaphorical flat-tire puts you in danger and you feel frightened, you are experiencing a flat-tire event. When the flat-tire forces you to confront your greatest fears, this is a flat-tire event. This is when your life is about to change one way or another. This is when the story starts.

To be continued…

For Your Success,

Kalinda

Dr. Kalinda Rose Stevenson