If you aren’t the hero of your story, it’s just not the right story.
I’ve always believed this. So many of us are busy trying to shoehorn ourselves into someone else’s idea of what we should be, who we should be, how we should be.
But if you aren’t the hero of your story, it’s just not the right story.
Note that I didn’t say hero of “the” story. I said hero of “your” story.
You see, I think too often we let someone else’s story play out as our own, unwittingly, all the while beating our heads against the wall, frustrated that things aren’t working out for us the way we’d always imagined. We go and go and go, assuming that if we just worked harder, worked longer, worked smarter, that we’d find the happy ending we always wanted.
We know that the best endings are the stories with the shittiest middles. It’s the drama, the tension, the face-your-demons decisions that make it – your story, your life, your triumph! – interesting. I’l often say that if you’re still in the shitty middle, just keep going. The happy ending awaits. But, how do you know if your shitty middle is part of your story or someone else’s?
It’s a matter of throwing away the sunk cost notions of just carrying on the same road you’ve been traveling. Ask yourself, with regularity, “Is this something that still matters to me? Do I still want this even at the cost of everything I must sacrifice? Would I wake up miserable if didn’t have this struggle, this heartache, this hope?”
Bottom line: are you fulfilling your definition of success, or one that belongs to someone else?
Now, you might be thinking, “It seems like she wants me to quit, do something else, take a new path…”
To the contrary, I want you to own the shit out of your dreams. Take them by the horns, and make them happen. Look defeat in the face and know that you have more inside of you to give.
Ask yourself why you are doing this, who put you on this path, what lies ahead for the journey if you cross paths with the success you seek. You can’t be insatiably hungry for someone else’s dreams, but oh boy can you all-you-can-eat the hell out of your own.
Reassess. Recalibrate. Refocus.
Just make sure that it’s your story.
Because, really, who doesn’t like a happy ending?
Want more perspective shifts like this?
