{"id":87680,"date":"2022-12-23T15:04:00","date_gmt":"2022-12-23T19:04:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=87680"},"modified":"2026-03-23T13:32:36","modified_gmt":"2026-03-23T17:32:36","slug":"narrative-coaching","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/narrative-coaching\/","title":{"rendered":"Narrative Coaching: Marcia Reynolds on Stories &amp; Identity"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>What is narrative coaching? Why is it important to disrupt the narrative in coaching?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In <em>Coach the Person, Not the Problem<\/em>, Marcia Reynolds claims that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/switch-by-chip-and-dan-heath\/\">lasting change<\/a> only will come when people confront the narrative that&#8217;s living inside them. According to her, narrative coaching helps to disrupt misguided beliefs and personal values.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Keep reading to learn more about narrative coaching, according to Reynolds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-disrupting-the-narrative-in-coaching\">Disrupting the Narrative in Coaching<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>According to transformational coach Marcia Reynolds, narrative coaching is important because humans are meaning-making machines and <strong>each of us constructs narratives to a) understand the world and ourselves and b) justify our circumstances<\/strong>. She says that we mistake these narratives for objective \u201creality,\u201d when in fact they\u2019re based on our personal experiences, social needs, and values.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Social needs<\/strong> are what each person requires to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/eckhart-tolle-relationships-how-to-be-present\/\">connect with others<\/a> and have a sense of well-being, like wanting to feel safe, accepted, valued, and in control. Reynolds says that unmet social needs are often at the heart of problems that clients present.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Personal values<\/strong> are a person\u2019s most strongly held, often inflexible, beliefs about what\u2019s important in life\u2014for example, family, power, religion or freedom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Reynolds says that social needs and personal values shape our biases, beliefs, and assumptions, which serve as the glue that holds our narratives together. These needs and values also compose and form our identities, which harden over time, making change difficult.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Shortform note: Whereas Reynolds sees rigid values as an obstacle to change, in <a href=\"https:\/\/shortform.com\/app\/book\/awaken-the-giant-within\/preview\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><em>Awaken the Giant Within<\/em><\/a>, Tony Robbins offers a different view. He proposes that there are two types of values: <a href=\"https:\/\/shortform.com\/app\/book\/awaken-the-giant-within\/chapter-12#understand-the-role-of-values\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">ends and means<\/a>. <em>Ends<\/em> are emotional states you hope to experience that make life fulfilling, such as happiness, love, and security. <em>Means<\/em> are how you expect to achieve those ends. For example, one of your values might be \u201cfamily,\u201d which is the vehicle through which you expect to find <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/happiness-and-love\/\">happiness and love<\/a>. For Robbins, the trouble comes when you pursue your means while forgetting about your ends. One of a coach\u2019s tasks, therefore, might be to remind clients of their ends and help them find more effective means.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Reynolds argues that coaches\u2019 job is to disrupt and unpack clients\u2019 thinking by helping them identify and deconstruct the biases, beliefs, and assumptions that hold their narratives together. This allows clients to question their narratives, see the situations they\u2019re in differently, and move forward in new, more productive ways.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In narrative coaching, you can help clients dismantle long-held narratives by <strong>positively reinforcing your client for working to improve their situation<\/strong>. This encourages them to continue sharing openly. For example, you can say: \u201cYou\u2019ve worked incredibly hard and done everything you can to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-improve-your-relationships-2\/\">improve your relationship<\/a> with your brother,\u201d or \u201cYou\u2019ve identified and tapped into as many key resources as are available to you. What\u2019s left in your control to do at this point?\u201d Encouraging clients to continue to make their own decisions empowers them by making them see they\u2019re not trapped in their situation.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table><tbody><tr><td><strong>Another Reason It\u2019s So Hard to Unpack Narratives\u00a0<\/strong><br><br>In <a href=\"https:\/\/shortform.com\/app\/book\/21-lessons-for-the-21st-century\/preview\" rel=\"nofollow\"><em>21 Lessons for the 21st Century<\/em><\/a>, Yuval Noah Harari supports Reynolds\u2019s argument that people typically see their narratives as a fixed truth and explains why they\u2019re so entrenched: Rituals cultivate people\u2019s belief in the stories they create.\u00a0<br><br>Harari asserts that people develop \u201cmeaning-of-life\u201d stories\u2014which give you <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/a-sense-of-purpose\/\">a sense of purpose<\/a> and put your existence into a broader context\u2014when they\u2019re young, in order to forge their identities. He says that most people combine components of multiple meaning-of-life stories and, as a result, end up with multiple, inaccurate identities. Because people are good at compartmentalizing, they often don\u2019t notice or acknowledge that these identities contradict one another. For example, someone who doesn\u2019t believe in the death penalty might nonetheless be comfortable with vigilante justice that leads to the murder of a person who\u2019s committed a heinous crime against a child.<br><br>Harari says that most people\u2019s meaning-of-life stories would fall apart if they truly examined them, which they often don\u2019t because they\u2019re supported and reinforced in rituals found in religion, politics, laws, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/norms-of-society\/\">social norms<\/a>, and institutions. Our stories are cemented through the lighting of candles in religious ceremonies, the enforcement of hierarchies and standardized thought in the military, and the carrying on of political traditions through the transfer of crowns and power.<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What is narrative coaching? Why is it important to disrupt the narrative in coaching? In Coach the Person, Not the Problem, Marcia Reynolds claims that lasting change only will come when people confront the narrative that&#8217;s living inside them. According to her, narrative coaching helps to disrupt misguided beliefs and personal values. Keep reading to learn more about narrative coaching, according to Reynolds.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":87722,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,43],"tags":[843],"class_list":["post-87680","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-psychology","category-self-improvement","tag-coach-the-person-not-the-problem","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.3 (Yoast SEO v24.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Narrative Coaching: Marcia Reynolds on Stories &amp; Identity - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"What does narrative coaching seek to achieve? Learn why coach Marcia Reynolds says disrupting the narrative is an important part of coaching.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/narrative-coaching\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Narrative Coaching: Marcia Reynolds on Stories &amp; Identity\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"What does narrative coaching seek to achieve? Learn why coach Marcia Reynolds says disrupting the narrative is an important part of coaching.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/narrative-coaching\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Shortform Books\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-12-23T19:04:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-03-23T17:32:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Image-12-28-22-at-11.27-AM.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1736\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1072\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Emily Kitazawa\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Emily Kitazawa\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/narrative-coaching\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/narrative-coaching\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Emily Kitazawa\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/e094024454c7d3334a149c0cf039bdeb\"},\"headline\":\"Narrative Coaching: Marcia Reynolds on Stories &amp; Identity\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-12-23T19:04:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-03-23T17:32:36+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/narrative-coaching\/\"},\"wordCount\":747,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/narrative-coaching\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Image-12-28-22-at-11.27-AM.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Coach the Person Not the Problem\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Psychology\",\"Self-Improvement\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/narrative-coaching\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/narrative-coaching\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/narrative-coaching\/\",\"name\":\"Narrative Coaching: Marcia Reynolds on Stories &amp; Identity - Shortform Books\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/narrative-coaching\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/narrative-coaching\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Image-12-28-22-at-11.27-AM.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-12-23T19:04:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-03-23T17:32:36+00:00\",\"description\":\"What does narrative coaching seek to achieve? Learn why coach Marcia Reynolds says disrupting the narrative is an important part of coaching.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/narrative-coaching\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/narrative-coaching\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/narrative-coaching\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Image-12-28-22-at-11.27-AM.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Image-12-28-22-at-11.27-AM.jpg\",\"width\":1736,\"height\":1072},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/narrative-coaching\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Narrative Coaching: Marcia Reynolds on Stories &amp; Identity\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Shortform Books\",\"description\":\"The World&#039;s Best Book Summaries\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Shortform Books\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png\",\"width\":500,\"height\":74,\"caption\":\"Shortform Books\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/e094024454c7d3334a149c0cf039bdeb\",\"name\":\"Emily Kitazawa\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0f5c60fcdcf3b7cd02c2882334c15a3d02f74a69631c696c3bce47deb21dc9ac?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0f5c60fcdcf3b7cd02c2882334c15a3d02f74a69631c696c3bce47deb21dc9ac?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Emily Kitazawa\"},\"description\":\"Emily found her love of reading and writing at a young age, learning to enjoy these activities thanks to being taught them by her mom\u2014Goodnight Moon will forever be a favorite. As a young adult, Emily graduated with her English degree, specializing in Creative Writing and TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language), from the University of Central Florida. She later earned her master\u2019s degree in Higher Education from Pennsylvania State University. Emily loves reading fiction, especially modern Japanese, historical, crime, and philosophical fiction. Her personal writing is inspired by observations of people and nature.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/author\/emily-kitazawa\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Narrative Coaching: Marcia Reynolds on Stories &amp; Identity - Shortform Books","description":"What does narrative coaching seek to achieve? Learn why coach Marcia Reynolds says disrupting the narrative is an important part of coaching.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/narrative-coaching\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Narrative Coaching: Marcia Reynolds on Stories &amp; Identity","og_description":"What does narrative coaching seek to achieve? Learn why coach Marcia Reynolds says disrupting the narrative is an important part of coaching.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/narrative-coaching\/","og_site_name":"Shortform Books","article_published_time":"2022-12-23T19:04:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-03-23T17:32:36+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1736,"height":1072,"url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Image-12-28-22-at-11.27-AM.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Emily Kitazawa","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Emily Kitazawa","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/narrative-coaching\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/narrative-coaching\/"},"author":{"name":"Emily Kitazawa","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/e094024454c7d3334a149c0cf039bdeb"},"headline":"Narrative Coaching: Marcia Reynolds on Stories &amp; Identity","datePublished":"2022-12-23T19:04:00+00:00","dateModified":"2026-03-23T17:32:36+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/narrative-coaching\/"},"wordCount":747,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/narrative-coaching\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Image-12-28-22-at-11.27-AM.jpg","keywords":["Coach the Person Not the Problem"],"articleSection":["Psychology","Self-Improvement"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/narrative-coaching\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/narrative-coaching\/","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/narrative-coaching\/","name":"Narrative Coaching: Marcia Reynolds on Stories &amp; Identity - Shortform Books","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/narrative-coaching\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/narrative-coaching\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Image-12-28-22-at-11.27-AM.jpg","datePublished":"2022-12-23T19:04:00+00:00","dateModified":"2026-03-23T17:32:36+00:00","description":"What does narrative coaching seek to achieve? Learn why coach Marcia Reynolds says disrupting the narrative is an important part of coaching.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/narrative-coaching\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/narrative-coaching\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/narrative-coaching\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Image-12-28-22-at-11.27-AM.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Image-12-28-22-at-11.27-AM.jpg","width":1736,"height":1072},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/narrative-coaching\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Narrative Coaching: Marcia Reynolds on Stories &amp; Identity"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/","name":"Shortform Books","description":"The World&#039;s Best Book Summaries","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization","name":"Shortform Books","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png","width":500,"height":74,"caption":"Shortform Books"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/e094024454c7d3334a149c0cf039bdeb","name":"Emily Kitazawa","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0f5c60fcdcf3b7cd02c2882334c15a3d02f74a69631c696c3bce47deb21dc9ac?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0f5c60fcdcf3b7cd02c2882334c15a3d02f74a69631c696c3bce47deb21dc9ac?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Emily Kitazawa"},"description":"Emily found her love of reading and writing at a young age, learning to enjoy these activities thanks to being taught them by her mom\u2014Goodnight Moon will forever be a favorite. As a young adult, Emily graduated with her English degree, specializing in Creative Writing and TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language), from the University of Central Florida. She later earned her master\u2019s degree in Higher Education from Pennsylvania State University. Emily loves reading fiction, especially modern Japanese, historical, crime, and philosophical fiction. Her personal writing is inspired by observations of people and nature.","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/author\/emily-kitazawa\/"}]}},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Image-12-28-22-at-11.27-AM.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87680","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=87680"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87680\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":148211,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87680\/revisions\/148211"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/87722"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=87680"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=87680"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=87680"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}