What does it mean that narrative as meaning construction?

The stories you tell about your life create the meaning of your life.

Example: Two people are laid off from the same company on the same day. One narrates the event as betrayal — she gave the company her best years, was discarded without warning, and concludes the world punishes loyalty. The other narrates it as liberation — he had been coasting in a role that no longer challenged him, the layoff forced a decision he lacked the courage to make, and within six months he is doing work he actually cares about. Same event. Different narrative. Completely different meaning. The event did not contain its own meaning. The story each person told about it constructed the meaning they now live inside.

Try this: Choose a significant event from your past — a failure, a transition, a loss, a surprise. Write it three times as three different stories. First, write the victim version: you were acted upon, the event was imposed on you, the outcome was someone else's fault. Second, write the agent version: you made choices that led to the event, the outcome reflects your decisions, and you own the consequences. Third, write the growth version: the event was necessary for something you could not have reached otherwise, and the difficulty was the price of a transformation you now value. Read all three. Notice that each version is factually defensible — you are not lying in any of them. Notice which version you habitually tell. Ask yourself: which narrative constructs the meaning that serves my life going forward?