Principle 4: Stories Change Over Time

There are many events that occur in a life time, some may be more important than others, but they still affect us in some way or form. After a certain age, humans are able to clearly remember many events, but as we age, we can forget certain details and these memories become foggy. McAdams wrote an essay on personal narratives and clearly agrees with this statement. One of the six principles that he wrote about was “Principle 4: Stories Change over Time” (McAdams, 246). This portion of the essay shows that as the years go on, we forget details about certain stories, or some portions of the story become more important than other parts. I believe that this segment helped me understand parts of my own personal narrative. The personal narrative I wrote was about family events that took place in my life and how they made me the person I am today. Now, I tell different parts of the story, than what I told

What we think a story means one day, could have a totally different meaning five years later. This makes me want to come back to this personal narrative once I’ve graduated, in order to see if I’ve gained a new perspective on the story. McAdams stated “As people’s motivations, goals, personal concerns, and social positions change, furthermore, their memories of important events in their lives and the meanings they attribute to those events may also change (Conway & Pleydell-Pearce, 2000; Singer & Salovey, 1993)” (McAdams). In relation to my personal narrative, I thought that my story meant I would end up a failure like my father, but as I grew up that changed like my goals in life did. In the eighteen years that I’ve lives, I would say I have been pretty successful and it will continue to happen as long as my goals stay that way. The principle that McAdams wrote about really opened up my mind and helped me find the true meaning to my personal