Be the hero of your own life.
When you think about your life, do you ever imagine it's a movie or a book with yourself as the main character? And not just any main character, but an actual hero? If not, you may want to start.
Research published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology suggests that making yourself the hero of your own story, with all the elements of a classic “hero’s journey,” can make your life feel more meaningful and significant and may even increase your resilience in the face of challenges.
How does looking at your life as a hero's journey help?
Study author and assistant professor of management and organization at Boston College, Benjamin A. Rogers, tells TIME that human brains are wired for stories and respond to them in powerful ways. "This is how we've been communicating and understanding ourselves for thousands of years,” he said. Think of how many stories we have of heroes, from Hercules to Harry Potter.
That doesn’t mean you need to go out and slay dragons or take down bad guys or rescue someone from the brink of disaster. It simply means that the story you tell yourself about your life matters, and seeing yourself as the hero in your own life story makes a difference. But how do you do that? How do you make yourself into a hero, especially if you don’t see yourself as one?
You are the protagonist in your life story. Photo credit: Canva
What makes your life a Hero's Journey?
The researchers created identified seven key Hero’s Journey elements that people can reflect on to see their lives in a new light:
Protagonist: The main character of the story—you. The protagonist is the person people are rooting for, so reflect on who you are in your life story. What is your identity? What do you stand for? What values do you hold most dear?
Shifts: New things or circumstances that push your life in different directions. What changes in your life have led you to where and who you are today?
Quests: Something you're working toward. What do you want in life? What are your goals?
Allies: People who are on your side. Who do you have in your life to support you on your journey?
Challenges: Could be situations or other people that are obstacles pursuing your quest. What or who is getting in your way?
Transformation: How you grow as you take your journey. What lessons have you learned? How have you become better, stronger, wiser, healthier, etc?
Legacy: What you leave behind for others. What will you share from what you've gained? How with the community benefit from your life's journey?
The study authors shared in Scientific American how they used these elements in the study to help people develop this hero's journey lens for their life story:
"We developed a 'restorying' intervention in which we prompted people to retell their story as a hero's journey. Participants identified each of the seven elements in their life, and then we encouraged them to weave these pieces together into a coherent narrative.
In six studies with more than 1,700 participants, we confirmed that this restorying intervention worked: it helped people see their life as a hero's journey, which in turn made that life feel more meaningful. Intervention recipients also reported greater well-being and became more resilient in the face of personal challenges; these participants saw obstacles more positively and dealt with them more creatively."
According to the researchers, it didn't matter how meaningful the participants had felt their lives were before. All participants got a boost in meaning and well-being from the exercise. However, there were two key components of the intervention that made it effective. Not only did participants identify the seven elements of the hero's journey but they wove them together into a coherent narrative—literally telling their life story as a narrative. "In other studies, we found that doing only one or the other—such as describing aspects of one's life that resembled the hero's journey without linking them together—had a much more modest effect on feelings of meaning in life than doing both," the researchers wrote.
It's definitely worth a try. As Rogers told TIME, “The way that people tell their life story shapes how meaningful their lives feel. And you don’t have to live a super heroic life or be a person of adventure—virtually anyone can rewrite their story as a Hero’s Journey.”
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An actual beaver dam on the now-thriving Price River
Not just coworkers—family, friends, strangers, kids…
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Anything hobbit-esque can't be wrong. 
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Urgent dash to the bathroom! 🚪🏃♂️
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There's a reason why some people can perfectly copy accents, and others can't
Turns out, there's a neurodivergent link.
A woman in black long sleeve shirt stands in front of mirror.
Have you ever had that friend who goes on vacation for four days to London and comes back with a full-on Queen's English posh accent? "Oooh I left my brolly in the loo," they say, and you respond, "But you're from Colorado!" Well, there are reasons they (and many of us) do that, and usually it's on a pretty subconscious level.
It's called "accent mirroring," and it's actually quite common with people who are neurodivergent, particularly those with ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder). According Neurolaunch, the self-described "Free Mental Health Library," "Accent mirroring, also known as accent adaptation or phonetic convergence, is the tendency to unconsciously adopt the accent or speech patterns of those around us. This linguistic chameleon effect is not unique to individuals with ADHD, but it appears to be more pronounced and frequent in this population."
Essentially, when people have conversations, we're constantly "scanning" for information—not just the words we're absorbing, but the inflection and tone. "When we hear an accent, our brains automatically analyze and categorize the phonetic features, prosody, and intonation patterns," writes Neurolaunch. For most, this does result in copying the accent of the person with whom we're speaking. But those with ADHD might be more sensitive to auditory cues. This, "coupled with a reduced ability to filter out or inhibit the impulse to mimic…could potentially explain the increased tendency for accent mirroring."
While the article explains further research is needed, they distinctly state that, "Accent mirroring in individuals with ADHD often manifests as an unconscious mimicry of accents in social situations. This can range from subtle shifts in pronunciation to more noticeable changes in intonation and speech rhythm. For example, a person with ADHD might find themselves unconsciously adopting a Southern drawl when conversing with someone from Texas, even if they’ve never lived in the South themselves."
People are having their say online. On the subreddit r/ADHDWomen, a thread began: "Taking on accents is an ADHD thing?" The OP shares, "My whole life, I've picked up accents. I, myself, never noticed, but everyone around me would be like, 'Why are you talking like that??' It could be after I watched a show or movie with an accent or after I've traveled somewhere with a different accent than my 'normal.'
They continue, "Apparently, I pick it up fast, but it fades out slowly. Today... I'm scrolling Instagram, I watch a reel from a comedian couple (Darcy and Jeremy. IYKYK) about how Darcy (ADHD) picks up accents everywhere they go. It's called ADHD Mirroring??? And it's another way of masking."
(The OP is referring to Darcy Michaels and his husband Jeremy Baer, who are both touring comedians based in Canada.)
Hundreds of people on the Reddit thread alone seem to relate. One comments, "Omfg I've done this my whole life; I'll even pick up on the pauses/spaces when I'm talking to someone who is ESL—but English is my first language lol."
Sometimes, it can be a real issue for those around the chameleon. "I accidentally mimicked a waitress's weird laugh one time. As soon as she was out of earshot, my family started to reprimand me, but I was already like 'oh my god I don’t know why I did that, I feel so bad.'"
Many commenters on TikTok were shocked to find out this can be a sign of ADHD. One jokes, "Omg, yes, at a store the cashier was talking to me and she was French. She's like 'Oh are you French too? No, I'm not lol. I'm very east coast Canada."
And some people just embrace it and make it work for them. "I mirror their words or phrase! I’m 30. I realized I start calling everyone sweetie cause my manager does & I work at coffee shop."