Hero-Glyph-Fixes
Last week I shared a short story from my Emily and Indiana Jones fan fiction, ‘The Seven Swords of Diya.’
Here’s last week's story link if you’d like a re-read.
I left you with the promise of answering the four questions which are vital for our series this year:
What stories are you listening to?
Who’s in charge of those stories?
What do these stories teach you?
How do these stories make you feel?
I should have said last week that there are no right or wrong answers to this. We all pick up different things based on what we’ve learned from past experience. But it’s important to ask the above four questions when we’re sorting through beliefs, whether they’re our personal beliefs, beliefs we completely disagree with, or when we’re encountering a story for the first time.
I also want to note that I’m detailing these questions from the characters’ standpoint, because it’s an important lesson for us to learn.
What stories are you listening to?
Indy is listening to the story of his skills are going to protect his daughter. He has that confidence in his skills. This is a good thing. As we learn new skills we should be building confidence - especially as we pass these skills onto our kids.
Emily is listening to her father. She’s building off his confidence and learning how to do new things. He taught her belay, and reminded her of the process. He encouraged her when she messed up on a word. He gave her a little safe adventure. She wanted more - but was happy with what she recieved. She felt safe - even though the situation is probably not one that any normal parent would put their kid into. All these moments are teaching her confidence and security.
Who is in charge of those stories?
Since I’m answering this from a character perspective - the person in charge of the stories would be the characters. But here’s the thing - because Emily is four years old, she’s still learning. She’s very much in a learn about the world, explore, investigate and figure out things mode. So she’s not exactly in charge of what she learns. Nor does she know what she’s doing. She has to learn by watching and interacting with people.
Her dad is in charge. Her dad is in charge of what he’s teaching her. And if you noticed it… he’s open to letting her have the adventure. He’s encouraging her. He’s excited for her - and he’s making certain that things are as safe as possible for her.
Many of us didn’t have parents who had that attitude. Instead what we got was accidental fear mongering or worse, when we were trying to learn new skills. That’s the value of going through our personal beleifs and writing in the format of having a protector as I mentioned in the Storytelling Through Trauma blog post series. That protector can re-teach us, giving us the skills we need to move forward, climb higher and prepare ourselves for bigger adventures… like Emily has an adult. (So far her adventures on Wattpad have been The Sidenstrasse Tapestry and The Seven Swords of Diya, but there will be more.)
What do these stories teach you?
By walking through these stories and seeing how the characters respond to each other… (Indy is encouraging adventure and fearlessness vs shutting down his daughter and increasing her fear), we can witness a template on how to greet ourselves when we meet challenges.
I want to add, when Em asks about “playing big rock chase” - the big rock moment was terrifying for Indy.1 So, somehow, Indy has managed to turn this from something terrifying - into a game for his kids (and later grandkids). Its a survival game - its mentally imprinting on them to take action and survive, so they’re not paralyzed with fear. (If you want the aftermath of big rock chase with Em, here’s the next chapter.)
How do these stories make you feel?
For the characters involved - this is a learning ground. Parenting is always new, scary and it comes with challenges, but somehow Indy has managed to embrace it and view it as an adventure. (If you want to see that character development read The Seven Swords of Diya).
For Emily, this could have been extremely terrifying. Her dad could have gotten mad at her. He could have said all the things that rattle around in our brains to shame us. But he didn’t.
For us - it gives us a look into what should have happened when those shaming things come up. And we can look back and choose to act differently toward ourselves - playing the parent willing to adventure, instead of the person caving to fear.
Perpetual Disclaimer for this series:
I am not a counselor or a mental health professional. I am going to attempt to avoid things which will cause alarm or harm, but I can't know what will trigger each individual. If you need to speak to a mental health professional please know that there are resources available.
Your stories are amazing!
Chronic Writer
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1(Its now classic, watch it here: INDIANA JONES RUNS FROM GIANT BALL RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK REMASTERED HD HARRISON FORD)
