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You can present the same facts to ten people and get ten different reactions.

Not because the facts changed.
Because the experience people attach to them did.

That’s the part humans often underestimate.

We assume meaning only lives in information.
But meaning also lives in how information is felt.

A quick thought experiment

As per the National Alliance to End Homelessness, 771,480 people experienced homelessness, according to a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development source.

That’s an alarming statistic.

Briefly imagine this:

It’s 10:43 PM.
You’re exhausted, but you can’t fully sleep because you’re listening for footsteps.
Your phone battery is at 8%, and you’re deciding whether to save it for safety or directions in the morning.

Both speak to the issue of homelessness.
But they frame it differently.

A frame can act as the background condition that tells the brain what kind of meaning to make.

There are many frames you can use to tell a story.
One of my go-tos? The Experience Frame.

The Experience Frame works by restoring the part of the story that usually gets skipped.

The living inside it part.

It asks things like:

• What does this condition demand of a person, day after day?

• What mental energy does it consume?

• What options does it quietly remove?

Poverty isn’t just low income.
It’s constant tradeoffs.

Hunger isn’t just food insecurity.
It’s irritability, shame, and decision fatigue.

Being unhoused isn’t just a lack of shelter.
It’s vigilance, exhaustion, and instability.

Those experiences don’t replace statistics, of course.
They explain them.
They enhance them.

Without the contextual cues of a frame, people often default to explanations that feel familiar to them. Usually individual ones.

That’s how we end up with stories that quietly say:

• They made bad choices.

• They didn’t try hard enough.

• That’s just how some people are.

When people understand an experience, they’re less likely to invent a cause.

And when causes stop being invented, responsibility stops being misplaced.

That’s why experience framing matters so much in equity, policy, and human rights conversations. It doesn’t argue. It reorients.

It changes what feels plausible.

🛠️ The PHacilitator’s Corner:

Take one issue you talk about often.

Now ask yourself:
What is the experience people never hear about?

Write two sentences that describe that experience.

exits stage left

If this issue had you thinking about how experience shapes meaning, Story Sauce helps you move from “I know this is important” to “I know how to tell this” for your next story.

Without reinventing the wheel every time or starting from scratch.

Interested? You can grab it for just $7

How’d I do?