“Those who do not have power over the story that dominates their lives, the power to retell it, rethink it, deconstruct it, joke about it, and change it as times change, truly are powerless, because they cannot think new thoughts.” – Salman Rushdie
So often it seems that we are defined by circumstances, by the outward things that happen around us. But it need not be so. Despite our situation in life, despite all the turmoil we find ourselves in, despite all the things over which we have no control, we still have the power to write our own story.
Many people are not aware of this, and let the circumstances of their lives write their story, by reacting to whatever happens as though they have no choice in the matter. But we always have a choice to make, a choice to write our own story, to interpret that which happens around us. This is why a disaster to one person is an opportunity to another. The first surrenders his freedom to that which happens to him, while the second chooses how to respond internally and externally to what she has encountered.
One is swept away, while the other swims, sometimes with the current or across the current or against the current, but swims nonetheless. Fate is not left to chance, but is orchestrated by choices and decisions made along the way.
This is especially the case when we are confronted by sudden and traumatic change, by that which we have not anticipated nor desired. We can throw up our hands and wail, or we can grasp the choice to write our own story. Is it easy? Many times not. Is it possible? Always. But so many things in life can be done if we will exert ourselves, first on the inside, then outwardly. The choice always starts within. With a determination to be the author of the story.
Are you being the author of your story as it unfolds, or letting circumstances write what they will? If you’d like to explore the possibility of learning to author your own story, I’d love to talk with you about it. I invite you to sign up for a free consultation with me to explore becoming one who writes your own story.