We are all story tellers.
Whether we are sharing a past experience, recounting a current event or just spreading gossip, the words we choose, the inflections in our voice and the animation of our body, weave together a unique rendition of the event.
But this kind of story telling is no more than a report – a recounting of past events. Even though it is told through your personal filters and is flavoured by your unique perspectives, it is still just a narration of a story that has already been created.
But we are all creators of new stories as well.
The stories that become epic are the ones that are created as a result of allowing. In them there is an element of faith – the willingness to be lead by an unseen force. This kind of story is full of adventure and in turn becomes, for the lead character, a legendary journey.
Allowing your story is living your life at it’s fullest. It is seeing the synchronicities along the way and being willing to be led astray. It is not knowing the answers but being curious enough to ask the unusual questions. It is veering off the well worn path and blazing a completely new trail into the unknown.
If we are honest with ourselves, there is a least one instance (only one?) when the desire to bust loose from the drudgery of our life and just leave it all behind to go off and seek an adventure, becomes a very real and tangible thing.
What is this feeling really; this urge to chuck it all? Is it our soul yearning for change? Is it a higher power imploring us to live the life we were put on this earth to actually live? Or is it our own epic legend, the story we were meant to live, yearning to be told?
Is there a person from history whose story resonates with you? Did they live a life full of challenges but persevered because their personal conviction was so strong. Perhaps they instead lived a cavalier life and threw all caution to the wind but had a life full of epic adventures. Or maybe, they refused to allow the circumstances of their upbringing to dictate their fate and instead created there own luck. The key to their memorable story is that they took up the challenge and co-created with fate instead of fate creating the story for them.
So what about you, have you ever given thought to the story your life is creating? When your life is long past, will your tale be retold, and what part in the story will you play? Will you be a main character in the history of mankind, a bit player, or just a member of the background crowd.
Hero or Victim
Epic or Mundane
Bold or Boring
It’s you story – it’s your choice.
“I’m no hero.” you state. Well maybe not to you, but look into the eyes of your child, they may think you hung the moon. Or the new co-worker whose first week was made welcoming because you took them under your wing. Hero’s come in all sorts of shapes and sizes.
“But I don’t do anything exciting with my life.” you might say. Start saying “yes” more often and “no” a little less and see what happens. Take a chance now and then, you might just find yourself in the starring role of a memorable story.
“I’m too boring to ever find myself in an adventure.” you lament. Stop over thinking your decisions in life. Choose to become curious. Be willing to peek around the corners or stand on the mountain edge of life and take in the view. You may not be able to fly but you can hold out your arms and feel a lift of excitement from the wind.
Our story is our legacy. It is the mark that says we existed. To have even one sentence of it recounted at the dinner table of the family and friends we left behind is proof that we’ve created something worthwhile while we lived.
The simple truth is, we get to write our own script in life but any writer will tell you that while they may be responsible for developing a cast of characters and a compelling storyline, it is when they allow the story to take on it’s own life that the potential for an amazing tale is formed.
It’s like planting a seed. You may know that the seed will become a petunia. You may even know that the flower will be purple. But until you allow it to sprout, reach for the sun and flourish, you can never be sure how it will present itself to you. You have to just have faith and allow it to grow and unfold.
It is the people who took the chance and allowed the opportunities that life presented who have the best stories. These are the tales we retell time and again. Whether it was your childhood friend who became a woman’s rights lawyer and travelled the world defending under privileged woman, or crazy aunt Ethel who became a peculiar local celebrity because she loved the colour purple so much, that she painted her house in every shade of it she could think of. Their stories are remembered because they allowed them to be created.
So the next time an opportunity presents itself to you, what will you choose? Whether it’s exciting or challenging, the outcome that is created becomes another chapter in the story of your life. So allow for the possibility of an epic tale. Be open to bold action. Let your hidden hero out so that this part of your journey, this odyssey into the unknown, becomes your own personal legend. One that the folks living in the background crowd, will be eager to retell.