The Healing Lab: Auditing Your Labels

Are the stories you tell about yourself actually true — or are they ones you inherited, adapted, or took on to survive? This month's Healing Lab experiment is deceptively simple: spend seven days noticing every fixed label you use to describe yourself, and ask one question — is this true, or is this adapted?

In this episode, Jessica walks you through the clinical framework behind this experiment (narrative therapy and the research of psychologist Dan McAdams), explains how repeated self-stories literally become the self we inhabit, and guides you through a small but powerful practice: catching the story, holding it up to the light, and trying a gentle rewrite when you're ready.

This isn't about tearing yourself down. It's about getting intentional — keeping what's genuinely yours and loosening your grip on what was never really yours to begin with.

This week's experiment:

For the next seven days, notice every time you use a fixed label to describe yourself — out loud or in your head. Pause and ask: is this actually who I am, or is this who I learned to be? If the answer is adapted or inherited, try one small rewrite. Not a declaration — just something a little more honest and a little more spacious than the original.

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Resources & Links:

Narrative therapy and the self-narrative research of Dan McAdams

identity therapy, narrative therapy, fixed labels, self-concept, adapted roles, who am I, identity healing, inner narrative, self-limiting beliefs, IFS, parts work, emotional healing podcast, mental health podcast, anxiety therapy, LCSW podcast, healing podcast for women, self-awareness, internalized beliefs, identity work, Jessica Colarco LCSW