“End your story, begin your life.” – Jim Dreaver
Are you tired of that same old story? You know, the one where you’re the loud one or the stupid one or the perfect one or the funny one or the smart one or the popular one or the lonely one or the responsible one. It might be a story about your romantic relationships or your work life or your personality or your body or your family.
Or maybe you’re relearning the same lesson again and again, or repeating patterns or cycles, or hearing yourself saying the same words day in and day out. It could be a story about overwhelm or loneliness, about boldness or meekness, about beauty or bitterness, about loss or loathing.
SADDLED WITH A STORY
All of us have a story that we’ve been saddled with. The story might be yours, a narrative you’ve constructed. Or it might be a tale that someone told you about yourself many years ago that you’ve adopted, taken as truth. An injudicious piece of feedback from a teacher, a parent or a lover perhaps. That you’re too this or too that. Even a well-meaning compliment can feel like a life-sentence. If you’ve let yourself be branded as the stable one, or the beautiful one or the smart one, or the silly one or the unreliable one or the crazy one, you’ll feel committed to that character, til death do you part.
YOUR STORY BECOMES A SCRIPT FOR YOUR LIFE
The story you’re telling yourself matters. Because the stories we tell ourselves about ourselves become the script for our lives. Who you are is an evolution. But if you’re tuning into the same old tale, year after year, you’re stunting your growth.
YOUR HISTORY IS NOT A PROPHECY
The truth is, most of these stories are a work of fiction, a mis-remembered history. Hyperbole masquerading as facts. But you’re not stuck with the story. It’s not set in stone.
So do not let yourself be held captive by some B.S. story, playing a role you didn’t choose for yourself.
Do not believe yourself to be shipwrecked, stranded with some tale you were told about yourself. Do not cling to your story as if it were a prophecy, keeping you afloat. Your history is not a prophecy.
WRITE A NEW STORY
If your inner narrator is stuck on repeat, you have a choice. Keep listening to the same story. Or write a new one.
Rip out the old pages, burn them to ash.
Start with a blank page and write it from scratch.
Make it an epic adventure. Make it a saga of sweetness. Make it a creative crusade. Make it a heart-thumping romance. Make it an inner expedition, pioneering into uncharted territories. Make it a story of courage and bravery. Make it a legend of love. Make it a quest for truth.
Whatever story you write about yourself, make it your own. Make it on purpose.
Put down the old script. Pick up a pencil. It’s time to let go of your story and start living your life.
