Maria Arpa
In our Live Mediation Theatre, actor Daniel Dresner was playing the role of Nick, in prison for GBH while Caroline Wildi played the part of despairing girlfriend, Abby. During one of their outbursts, Nick shouted, “This isn’t who I am”. He wanted Abby to see that the person in prison, powerless and desperate was not who he sees himself as.
It’s a short phrase with a lot of content. I guess that when life publicly takes us to difficult, dark places we can have a hard time reconciling it with how we want to be seen. In terms of the Dialogue Road Map, I interpret the phrase as a short hand plea for understanding with a very clear request:
Here’s the DRM translation- “I am having a hard time adjusting to these circumstances and when I experience you reacting to a me that I haven’t come to terms with yet, I am worried that you will erase the me that was happy and in good shape and if you do that then I am frightened I will never find my way back. While I go through this situation, will you help me to keep the other me alive?”
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