Everyone is the main character in their own life, with different motivations, conflicts, and turning points. Each year is a new season and every decision becomes part of the plot. The people we meet, the risks we take, the opportunities that come our way, and even the mistakes we regret all shape our character development over time. 

If our choices are what shape us and the story we eventually tell about our lives, then why not “do it for the plot?”

The phrase “for the plot” became popular with young people today, replacing the old trend of   “you only live once.” It reflects the belief that life is meant to be fully experienced. Sometimes it means saying yes to opportunities simply because they might become a great story one day.

I love this mentality because half the fun of life is not knowing what’s going to happen next — so you might as well end up with stories to tell. 

Geoffrey Durso, a professor in the College of Business who studies consumer behavior and social psychology, said people often interpret uncertain or negative experiences as part of a larger narrative. 

“Attributing this event to being part of a larger story can suggest that the best is yet to come or, conversely, that it’s part of a consistent pattern,” Durso said. “‘Do it for the plot’ is a direct allusion to this tendency, that one bad event could explain what happens next for good or for bad.”

That idea becomes most clear when you’re going through challenges. Once you get through something, you have a story. Something you can actually laugh about later, or at least say, “Yeah, I survived that.”

Every awkward situation, unexpected friendship and messy falling out eventually turns into lore. The same things that caused stress end up becoming the exact stories you retell years later when you’re trying to explain how you became who you are.

While “doing it for the plot” adds to your story, it also lowers the fear of being judged in the moment. 

“Perhaps one reason that ‘do it for the plot’ has gained popularity is that it embraces doing things that are risky regardless of how it is socially perceived by others, even during ‘failure,’” Durso said. 

Mia Willis, a sophomore majoring in film and television, says doing things “for the plot” has brought her out of her comfort zone.  

“The fear of the unknown is something that can be really scary,” Willis said. “Regardless of the outcome, I always learn new things about what I experienced and about myself, and I think that’s really amazing.”

No good story exists without conflict. Imagine reading a book where nothing ever went wrong, nobody made mistakes and every character stayed comfortable the entire time. It would be unbearably boring. The same is true about life.

This mindset shouldn’t mean making reckless decisions just for chaos or romanticizing suffering for the sake of it. But there’s something freeing about viewing challenges as part of the narrative instead of evidence that your life is falling apart.

Years from now, most of us probably won’t remember every time we played it safe. We’ll remember the risks we were daring enough to take.

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