Perception turns facts into stories faster than most people realize.

Raw events do not stay raw for long. Within seconds, your mind has supplied motives, context, and a narrative, and the story then gets remembered as though it were the observation. That conversion happens too quickly to notice, which is what makes it so convincing.

Practice separating the two: what actually happened, and what you concluded about it. Write both down for one situation this week. The gap between them is usually much wider than it feels.