"It wasn't what happened; it was the story you told yourself."
In Beyond Good and Evil, Nietzsche argues that facts do not exist in a pure state; only interpretations exist. This means that what affects you is not the event itself, but the meaning you assigned to it. What you call "reality" is, in part, your way of reading it.
Heidegger used to say that "language is the house of being." We don't just use words to describe the world; the world is constructed through them. If you don't have the words to name what you feel, that feeling remains a shapeless shadow. To speak is to begin to exist.
Sartre said that we are "condemned to be free." Even when you believe you have no choice, you are choosing. Not choosing is also a choice. Anguish appears when you realize that the only person responsible for your life is you. There is no destiny, only decisions.
What story are you telling yourself today?
This post is my original work.