Excerpt from episode #1 of the What Drives You? podcast
28 Dec 2021

What Drives You?

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Today’s blog post is an excerpt from the first episode of my new podcast, “What Drives You?” I’m so excited to share these conversations with you! We’ll be exploring our family of origin dynamics through the metaphor of the “family car.” Each episode is full of insights and relatable ah-ha moments, and I’m so glad you’re here on the journey with us.

Here is a taste of episode #1. If it resonates with you, just click one of the links at the end of the post to listen to the full episode. OK! Let’s get this show on the road!

 

Episode #1
What Drives You?

I see the metaphor as an additional way to view ourselves and our family members and how we got to be who we are. By understanding it through the car metaphor, there are so many ways of interpreting families.

Tolly: Welcome to the first episode of what drives you a podcast hosted by me, Tolly Taylor, a reporter based here in Ann Arbor, Michigan. And Ellen Chute, an LMSW here at the University of Michigan and adjunct lecturer. Ellen, if you could describe this car metaphor—it’s something that you came up with, so how did you think of the car?

Ellen: I thought of the car from my own childhood, where I spent most of my childhood in the backseat of my parents’ car by myself. I grew up as an only child, and I didn’t like it; I always felt very alone in the backseat.

And it felt to me many times like my parents weren’t really interested in what I was doing back there. The rule in our car was that little girls are to be seen and not heard. And so, I was a good little girl and sat in the back seat and tried to be good and pretty. And my pervasive childhood memories are of being in that space by myself.

And as I grew up, made friends, and developed a larger community, I would sit with my friends in their cars and there was so much interaction and so much noise and there were other children. And I began to think about how being alone in the backseat of that car was really profound for me and it determined a lot about who I am today as a person.

And then I began thinking that wherever anybody sits in the car and whoever else might be in the car with them, they have their own unique experience of how they become who they are.

 

Would you like to listen to the rest of this podcast?

Listen on YouTube here:
https://youtu.be/DJdyCHRoAbE

 

If you enjoy the podcast, I would love it so much if you would subscribe and leave a review! Thank you, and please stay in touch through the blog, podcast, and social media:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ellenychute (@ellenychute)
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ellenychuteauthor

See you at the next pit stop,
Ellen

 

Topics included in this podcast:
Family systems, Family therapy, only children, divorce, blended families, family of origin, sociology, psychotherapy, counseling, therapy, family healing, generational healing, family dynamics