Selfstorytelling

Selfstorytelling refers to the construction and dissemination of a personal life narrative by an individual. It encompasses how people narrate experiences, values, and identities to themselves and to others, often shaping memory, meaning, and behavior. Selfstorytelling can be informal and iterative, mediated by everyday conversations, journaling, digital platforms, or community storytelling circles rather than by formal autobiography alone.

In psychological terms, selfstorytelling is tied to the idea of narrative identity—the internalized and evolving story that integrates the past, present, and imagined future to provide a sense of unity and purpose. The concept highlights how people organize disparate events into coherent plots, offering explanations for actions and guiding future choices.

Practices of selfstorytelling include journaling, life-review exercises, oral storytelling in groups, and digital storytelling through blogs or multimedia posts. In clinical settings, narrative therapy uses clients’ stories to re-author identities, reframing problems as externalized narratives that can be revised.

Applications span education, aging populations, trauma recovery, and cultural heritage work. In the digital age, selfstorytelling also intersects with online personas, self-presentation, and issues of privacy and reputation, as individuals curate narratives across multiple platforms.

Benefits commonly associated with selfstorytelling include enhanced coherence of experience, increased resilience, and a greater sense of agency. Potential risks involve selective memory and bias, the social pressures of self-presentation, misrepresentation, and privacy concerns. Critics note that selfstorytelling is culturally situated and may reinforce certain scripts or stereotypes, and that it may not capture all dimensions of a person’s life. Related concepts include narrative therapy and life-review practices.