pro tip: don't let the story get ahead of the medicine
19 Apr 2026the other day i was on a walk with my dear friend, rachel plattus, and she said something (as she often does) that named something in such a powerful way that i had to pause the convo.
she explained what she meant by the phrase and i just thought it was so profound. paraphrased:
letting the story get ahead of the medicine is when an idea about something spreads farther and faster than the actual thing itself. it’s when the narrative or story about something moves more quickly than the impact of the thing.
even though we were talking about it in relation to something else at the moment, she said she has been saying that about solidarity economy work for more than 10 years. and i just felt so many different moments and contexts where that is exactly what had happened. the narrative about a project or a campaign or initiative became bigger than the project itself. and then the story begins to have its own weight and shine that, once out there, can’t be taken back. and then if the actual thing doesn’t live up to what people have heard or thought they’d heard, the disappointment or frustration (especially if folks invested resources such as time or money) can be so large that it collapses the project.
and just… oof. ty rachel for this naming. (sidenote: this reminds me of ursula le guin’s earthsea series where things have true names and it’s extremely powerful to know the true name of something/someone.
one thing that’s come up since i started writing this is that there is definitely a value to visioning and imagining the outcome of something. i don’t think it’s bad for there to be story about something. i think the trouble starts when the vision or future of something starts to get solidified via people’s words. people start to say things that intentionally or not, make the vision sound like it’s the current reality. but i think if that gets avoided, all could be well.
ah, i have a couple more thoughts, including a metaphor about my cutie and his recent bitters making. but it’s time to go for now. so it’ll have to wait. there’s always more to write than there is time to write it… ciao!
words / writing / post-processing
376w / 11min / 4min