Deana on Life's Stories

It is true, our lives are simply a compilation of stories. Each one of us gets to be the author of our own life's stories. It is easy to lose sight of this when things seem to be going wrong. We may feel like we are simply being written in as the main character in a terribly depressing, or scary horror novel, by some warped higher being or purpose.

It is just as easy to take the credit when things are going good. We are quick to take the credit for the story line, bringing all the characters together, the exciting climax, and of course the happy ending.

The point is regardless of what circumstances are presented to us, we get to take whatever action we choose. We can rise to the challenge, overcome, and be the hero of the story or we can choose to cower in the corner and hope that we will be rescued by someone else who is more hero worthy.

Not only do we create our stories, we also get to choose how we recall them. We can concentrate on all the negative parts of the memory, or choose to remember the heartfelt moments and happy endings.

A personal example of this is recently when my sister and brother-in-law were visiting, Perry and I were talking about all the adversity that we have been through in the past 5 years. We went through hardship of some kind each year, either major health problems for Perry or a death of one of our parents. We remembered each year based on the bad thing that happened in that year.

My brother-in-law politely pointed out that we needed to find some other way to recall those years. I realized that during that time period we had also managed to do a great deal of traveling. We now choose to remember those years based on the great trips we took each year.

Bottom line, it is day one, the page is blank, the pen is in your hand. You decide the who, what, when, where and how. It is up to you to make it the best story ever written.