- The Productive Disruptive
- Posts
- For the Ones Who Keep Showing Up Anyway
For the Ones Who Keep Showing Up Anyway
Every Tuesday, The Productive Disruptive delivers storytelling science, message makeovers, cultural commentary, and a little rebellious hope for anyone still stubborn enough to believe communication can change the world.
Dorian Johnson
November 11, 2025
Did a wise PHriend forward this to you? [Subscribe here.]
Some people walk through fire and come out holding light.
You’ve seen them. You might be them.
They’re the ones who still show up when logic says, “Why even bother?”
They’ve seen the worst of the system and still whisper,
“We can build better.”
That’s an archetype at work, I call it the Torchbearer. This, and other archetypes, are a storytelling hack.
Archetypes are the story patterns our brains already recognize.
They’re not characters; they’re codes for meaning. They can even show up cross-culturally.
The Child brings wonder and curiosity(but maybe they’re naive).
The Mentor offers wisdom and guidance (but maybe the mentee can teach them a thing or two as well).
The Wounded Healer transforms their pain into purpose.
And the Torchbearer keeps the faith when everything else flickers.
Archetypes can give your stories structure and some soul.
The Torchbearer is the nurse who still greets every patient by name
in the face of burnout and short staffing.
The teacher who retools the same lesson for the tenth time
in the face of testing pressures, and yet another curriculum change.
The outreach worker who hits multiple locations again tomorrow
in the face of swag grabbers or low turnouts.
Their hope isn’t naïve. It’s disciplined.
It’s the kind that builds calluses. It’s seasoned.
Think back to the early years of the HIV/AIDS epidemic.
The data was grim. The stigma was crushing. Entire communities were disappearing.
And yet, there were Torchbearers who refused to stop believing that care, compassion, and science could save lives, in the face of loved ones lost and a delayed Surgeon General Advisory.
Torchbearers are incredibly important to Public Health and social change.
They’re the proof that progress doesn’t just need data, it also needs stamina.
🧠 Story Science Side Note: I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: schema activation is where the magic happens.
That’s just a fancy way of saying your brain loves shortcuts for meaning.
When you meet a familiar story role(the Mentor) your mind goes, “Ohhh, that’s who they are.”
Using archetypes strategically can help your people save mental calories and be easier to undestand.
📝 Message Makeover:
toxic positivity → truthful hope
The Torchbearer doesn’t pretend everything’s okay.
Hope isn’t pretending the world is fine.
It’s believing it can be, and working like hell to make it so.
🛠️ The PHacilitator’s Corner:
Pick one micro-moment from your work that is a setback.
Write three sentences describing what almost made you (or your subject) give up.
Ask: What could relight the spark?
End with endurance: one sentence showing what might happen next if that spark caught again.
There’s power in identifying the torch-bearing moments in your life(and others’) to build storytelling skills.
Up way past my bedtime!