"How cool would that story be to look back and share?!"
We can live our lives in a few ways.
Kind of like we can write books with a few different techniques.. there are the outliners and the pantsers.. The ones who meticulously plan out how the trajectory will play out and what goals to hit before continuing on to the next chapter. And the Pantsers who live, eh hem, I mean write, by the seat of their pants. Who write like they're living the story... engaged with the characters and exploring, as they do, how their life unfolds.
You can see the parallels between writing and living here..
There's another way, as well. One that I find myself referring to and conscious of as I'm creating the life I desire to live. Well, a few ways I suppose.. One is that of frameworks, which is kind of like having outlines, but more like the structure/bones of a house and the details get to fill in.. It's like having standards and known ways of operating that I have consciously chosen and serve me. I love creating frameworks in life.
The other is crafting the story that will be told. Creating the story with the acknowledgment that I'll look back at it. Will I feel like it's a story that inspires me and lights me up? Or one that feels dull and a bit vacant of aliveness?
For example... I'm about 5 months pregnant now and feeling quite inspired to finally create the cafe that's been knocking on my head for some years now. I've always called it The Meeting Place. It's vivid and beautiful and lights me up every time it comes into my field. And recently, since moving to a place we see ourselves for at least a good few years... it's present again. Though I try to push it away with all sorts of very logical reasons of why right now is not the time to start a business venture like a cafe... like I'm pregnant and soon going to be in the third trimester, and then will give birth and be in the fourth trimester... or that cafe/restaurants are notoriously money pits... or that I'd have just a few months to get it up, profitable, and streamlines to be managed and have me relatively completely hands off...
See, great points. I'm my own best devil's advocate.
Yet at the same time, there's this voice inside me that says - but what a great story! "How was your. pregnancy?" "Well, I moved across the country, twice... and then moved across the ocean.. settled in and then started a profitable and exquisite cafe! (One that we eventually could branch out to other locations. :-P Lol - I'm a great dreamer/visionary/architect of ideas.)"
Anyways - when we craft our lives in such a way that we know it will be pleasurable or even adventurous to look back on, we are setting ourselves up to have a bank of memories that make our hearts swell, our dinner table conversations rich, and our character bright.
We're always living and creating stories. How will you look back on the ones you're currently crafting?
