Losing the Plot!

Thoughts on ‘losing the plot’!

I remember a neighbour commenting on another neighbour of ours who had just gone into ‘the Priory’, she described her as ‘Losing the Plot’.

Many of us would think of this as a negative comment, along similar lines of somebody ‘losing their marbles’ etc., But is it? What if that person’s original ‘plot’ of their life wasn’t working or needed to be changed?

One of the definitions of ‘plot’ in the dictionary is: ‘storyline. the plan, scheme, or main story of a literary or dramatic work, as a play, novel, or short story’. When we think about our lives, we each have a story and we have a part to play in that story. When a person ‘loses the plot’, it is normally when they begin to lose this idea of knowing what their story is and their role, they don’t know what is going on in their life and their part in it. For example, my neighbour, Katherine’s story started to change when her husband of 40 years left her, she was no longer a wife, and not just her title of ‘wife’ had changed, but also the future she had imagined, which in the past, would have included her husband. So in Katherine’s case, her ‘losing the plot’ was right, she actually had a plot to lose, and a new one to write and / or begin to put together, bit by bit, just like a writer does with a story. The beauty is when we ‘lose the plot’, just like a writer with their story, the plot and our character can change as the story unfolds, editing and deleting the bits that don’t work and adding stuff that does!

I was profoundly inspired when I saw Katie Piper interviewed last week. If you don’t know who Katie Piper is, she is the model who was severely physically scarred when acid was thrown at her, scarring her face and upper body. Why Katie comes to mind while I am writing this blog on ‘losing the plot’ is that Katie needed to ‘re-write’ her plot of life. She no longer had her role of ‘model’ but Katie refused to be a ‘victim’ in her life (story!). She spoke about personal responsibility she had for her own life and that when she was in the ‘victim’ mode, her life become stagnant and she felt stuck’. Katie used a Therapist for two years during her recovery as she understood the value of healing on the inside as well as on the outside. She also spoke about not comparing yourself to anyone else, when we compare ourselves to others, we often feel bad about ourselves, but each one of us is unique and we have our own unique contribution and role in this world.

So if you are ever feeling like you are ‘losing the plot’ and you would like some help to create space in your mind to find yourself and write a new plot, do let me know. We are the writers of our own stories and take the leading role in the stories of our lives, don’t let anybody else dictate your story, you have the ability and the responsibility to write it for yourself!

Much love,
Bonita