Who’s the Protagonist?

If you’re reading a story or telling a story, that’s usually obvious, isn’t it? But if you’re living a story, it gets a little bit tricky. In your personal story, the Story of your own life, the protagonist is (presumably) you … but what about your professional story? What about your teaching and learning Story?

“Mosaic depicting theatrical masks of Tragedy and Comedy, 2nd century AD, from Rome Thermae Decianae (?), Palazzo Nuovo, Capitoline Museums” by Following Hadrian is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.

I tend to tell story fragments in these posts, little bits of the Story that D, Q, M, E, and their alphabetically-disguised counterparts have told me. And you may have noticed that I’m not the protagonist when I tell those coaching and teaching stories, those stories of transformation. Sometimes D, Q, M, or E is the protagonist. Sometimes the real protagonist is the coaching process. When I tell stories of my Latin learners, the protagonist is sometimes the learner, sometimes the subject matter.

But a lot of teachers, especially the teachers who are Stuck and Frustrated, are telling a different kind of Story. A lot of teachers are telling a teaching and learning story where they’re either the Protagonist, if things go well, or the Persecuted Victim, if things go badly.

I get it! That’s what it feels like in your Personal Story! And your Personal Story is important.

But your Personal Story isn’t your Teaching Story. Your Personal Identity isn’t your Professional Identity. Your Teaching Story, your Professional Story, isn’t all about you the way your Personal Story is. Your Professional Story is about the people you serve professionally and the results you help them achieve. Your Professional Identity is about who and how you are being as you serve them and help them achieve those results.

When our Personal Story and Professional Story get fused, we suffer! When our Personal Identity and Professional Identity get fused, we suffer! And when our specific professional role gets fused with our Personal and Professional Identities, the suffering is compounded.

If you’ve been feeling stuck and frustrated, trapped in a Story where there’s always too much work and not enough time, take a moment. Take a quiet moment. See if you’re trying to be the Protagonist in a Story that isn’t fully yours. And if you have been, there’s great news. You can stop. You can change. You can re-craft your story and shift your role and get those identities and role definitions unfused.

We can work on that together if you want.