possibility…

I’ve been reading about story today, specifically Kathy Hansen’s blog, A Storied Career, an absolute treasure trove of information about story and the role of story in our lives and careers. One of the charms of this topic for me is that I find it impossible to read about story and not constantly apply the ideas and observations to my own “story.” Today I felt particularly drawn to the question of how we develop our individual stories in the face of inertia (which for me is usually related to feeling overloaded or overwhelmed, feeling tired–in need of a break, or possibly facing too many choices–difficulty making decisions. And really, in today’s world, it’s difficult to NOT feel tired, overwhelmed and challenged by too many choices from time to time. As I thought about various crossroads in the story process, I began to think about a book/movie analogy.

Think of our life story as a book that we “write on the fly.” Every morning we get up and rattle off a few pages … maybe even a chapter some days. Then there are days when we feel tired or we struggle to make decisions about what to write because there are just too many options, or maybe we lack confidence to write “bigger”stories. Some days we write pages of our book in the way that other people think we should. We match the expectations of others. Too often we write pages with activities and events that match our own lowest expectations of ourselves. We are too afraid to dream and then to live into our dreams.

I was contemplating how we can “write” our life story today and tomorrow in a way that reflects our true nature, capabilities, and dreams. Then I began to think… wouldn’t it be interesting to think of our life story as a partially completed book that has gone missing from the library shelf. Or maybe you lent it to a friend and they dropped in the bath and tossed it. It’s a work in progress but the history–the history that we think the world judges us by… baggage that holds us back–is gone. All that remains is the movie version that we live one day at a time. The world sees only the day-to-day action without having expectations based on say … chapter two or five.

We know our experiences, history, dreams, and hopes. We know the events that made us strong and knowledgeable. We know the challenges that we survived and that have made us resilient. We don’t need to replay the unrealistic expectations from people in chapter one. They don’t have to play a leading role in chapter eight–or in today’s movie. Depending on the situation, this analogy has its limitations of course. Many of the experiences in our life story feel as though they are indelibly etched in our spirit. I think that the benefit of thinking about our lives in these terms is the reminder that we DO have choices, much of life is not written in stone. By drawing on parts of our story, we can reinforce our strength, courage, and commitment in order to create a “future story” that reflects who we are.

In my opinion, the benefit of the life story/movie analogy is recognizing the positives from our previous experience, combining them with the the important people and experiences of today, and recognizing our ability to shape our future. Our story gives us power.