Life is a story you tell yourself. No one knows your story but you. Others see only the outer refractions. How you frame events in your life significantly impacts your happiness and success.
The narrative you construct based on your experiences funnels the vast and incomprehensible world into a comfortable perspective. The stories are never identical to reality, but we live in them, so they are real to us.
There's nothing wrong with telling yourself stories, but remember they are not facts. Our stories can create a limiting identity that prevents us from experiencing life fully.
Choose Your Own Adventure
The basis of our day-to-day lives revolves around which details we pay attention to, and these details paint the motion picture, frame-by-frame, of the story of our lives. If you are mindful of the story you tell yourself, you can shape yourself into who you want to become. You will shape your future self accidentally instead of intentionally.
It's Your Story, but Others Matter
Telling yourself that you, as the protagonist, are the only character in your life who matters is a recipe for disappointment. The solution? Remove yourself from the center.
It's hard to take things personally when you see your experiences in the grand scheme. Someone isn't cutting you off as a sign of disrespect. Their actions are a result of their life stories, not yours.
When we remove ourselves from this self-centered view, we can view events with genuine curiosity. We can actively listen to our friends' stories and try to understand their origins. We can create a joint space where we can connect with empathy. We can get out of our heads and into the world.
You Are Not Your Story
As real as our stories feel, we are not the stories we tell ourselves. These stories are false identities of the ego and can hold us back from reaching our full potential. Stay mindful of the stories you tell yourself and how they might affect you. Remember, the only time you can impact your life story is the present.
