Welcome to the What Drives You? podcast! In this first episode, Tolly and Ellen introduce the metaphor of the "family car," a powerful representation of the dynamics we experience in our family of origin. Ellen Y. Chute is a licensed therapist and former lecturer at the University of Michigan. She brings her wealth of clinical and personal experience to this authentic and relatable conversation. Tolly Taylor is an award-winning reporter and expert interviewer. Together, Ellen and Tolly bring us an enlightening and thought-provoking dialogue that sparks the question, "What drives you?"
In this inaugural episode of What Drives You? we are introduced to the metaphor of the "family car." Ellen explains how this metaphor helps us understand our family dynamics and how they affect us throughout our lives.
Ellen describes her physical family car and the dynamic she experienced as an only child left to herself in the back seat. As she explains who sat in the literal driver's seat and who acted as the "back seat driver," we come to see how these relational patterns extended beyond her family's physical car to the metaphorical car of their daily interactions.
Tolly shares his experience of reverting to old patterns of behavior and communication when he goes home for a visit. This leads to an exploration of how we will find ourselves in various "cars" throughout our lives—with friends, with our partner and children, revisiting our family of origin car from time to time—and to the question, "How can we function in various "cars" throughout our lives in a healthy way?"
Finally, Tolly and Ellen share a preview of what's to come in future conversations. Join us on our road trip to discover more about What Drives You!
Connect with Ellen:
Website: https://www.ellenychute.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ellenychute (@ellenychute)
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ellenychuteauthor