My story to tell…
“Your new life will cost you your old one.” –Jay Shetty.
An enlightening quote, no doubt but it is also very open to interpretation. This characteristic makes it my favorite quote of all time. My new way of life could cost my old one, for better or for worse?
As stated by the same man in his recent book ‘think like a monk’ our life should be viewed as one long story. All incidents, successes, failures are interconnected pieces, chapters if you will of the same story. What is even more compelling is that this symbolism makes us the storytellers. When you truly understand the depth of this symbolism and when you begin to put it into practice many questions get surprisingly answered.
We are the tale tellers which mean that we can alter our tales any way we want. What we cannot alter although is the obstacles we are served with. But if we as storytellers make our stories worth telling in spite of them, it makes us better storytellers. If I as a maker of my tale carefully observe and truly understand the errors and blunders, I made in the previous chapter, maybe the next chapter could be a better version of the story and of the previous protagonist, me.
Empathy, the root of all solutions and problems does not come easy to us petty human beings. But maybe if instead of looking at each other as people if we look at each other as storytellers navigating their way through their stories for the very first time, empathy and kindness could come to us effortlessly. No protagonist is written as a perfect character. The protagonist makes mistakes. Thus, forgiving could become easier, forgiving others and also us as protagonists.
If we are the protagonists of our own tales, I wonder what role we play in other stories. Maybe we are the antagonists or maybe we are something noteworthy. But this also means that we get to decide who stays in ours. And maybe just like a book I cannot erase the previous page but I do get to decide which character stays once I turn the page over.
It is pretty interesting to think about, is it not?
Altering stories and learning values along the way, that is life. My new way of life could be a better version of the old one or maybe not. And that is scary but also weirdly assuring at the same time. I get to choose what tomorrow brings.
Life is not about finding your story; it is about creating your own. And since no two stories are the same, no two lives can be the same either. Each tale moves at it’s own pace, with it’s own twists and turns, with it’s own plot and with it’s own set of negatives and positives. What we can do is just simply take one chapter at a time.
A protagonist to some extent changes over time. In English we term it as ‘character development’. Well, so do we in our individual tales. But the character never completely transforms into another. Similarly, we change, we evolve but we never transform, it is a myth that we do.
Some books are classified as classics while some unfortunately forgotten. Well, in the same way some stories are worth listening to years after they are finished. But unlike professional paid authors some ‘storytellers’ do not mind being forgotten, do not mind being in the shadows while some spend their entire lives making their stories memorable and noteworthy. That is the beauty of it.
“We are all here for some special reason. Stop being a prisoner of your past. Become the architect of your future.” – Robin Sharma.
The first half of the book defines what the next half would be like. Our past defines what our future would be. You can never forget the past no matter how tough but you can assure yourself that it is done. Although it will always be a part of you it will never be you.
“You can’t make decisions based on fear and the possibility of what might happen. – Michelle Obama.
The end is undefined and unchartered. Unlike a book our stories could end without us wanting them to. We can alter what we are given but we cannot alter the amount we are given. This thought does make me uncomfortable. But I find comfort in the fact that I can make the most of what I have. Write my story in a way that I do not miss out anything. So that even if it does have an untimely ending it would not be unfinished. Afterall, the size of the book does not matter, what matters is it’s content.
Since childhood we have been taught to never judge a book by it’s covers and time and time again that phrase has proven itself right. But still we tend to judge someone’s story from the outside, at face value without any knowledge of the unseen and of the unheard.
So, until we know their stories, until we read their stories we cannot or rather we should not decide if they are worth reading.
“Self-esteem comes from being able to define the world in your own terms and refusing to abide by the judgement of others.” – Oprah.
Many storytellers make the mistake of not writing their story on their own. They let other people do their job for them. In most cases it is because of fear. Fear of judgement, fear of what might be, fear of the future etcetera. If we have been given the gift of creating our own stories, we have to use it to the best of our abilities. We cannot let fear take that luxury away from us.
If you do not write your own story it can hardly be called as yours. You are living someone else’s story altogether. A bit ridiculous, don’t you think?
Don’t get me wrong, others can certainly help you shape your story and likewise you can help shape theirs. But no one other than you can be at the front and center while defining your tale. It has to come from you, it has to be you. Maybe in your story you become a doctor. But did you become a doctor because you wanted to or because somebody else wanted you to? If the answer is someone else then your story isn’t yours anymore and you need to alter it and make it yours again.
Role Model.
NOUN
A person looked to by others as an example to be imitated.
We all have at least one person whom we look up to, a person we aspire to be like. And that is okay, it is beneficial even. But at the same time, we cannot and should not become them. At the end of the day we have to stick to our character, who we truly are. We can imitate them; we can be like them but we should not be them. Otherwise we are back to square one, it would not be your story, it would be theirs.
No two characters in books are the same, maybe similar but never the same. And that is what makes each story different, unique and compelling.
In the end it is all about how you want your story to be. You are the storyteller but a storyteller is also the first story listener. As the first reader of your book, what do you want it to be like? That is what truly matters. If you like it then your story is definitely worth telling. And if your story is worth telling then you are doing a pretty good job.
So the next time you find yourself in a fix, try viewing it as a passing chapter that can be altered.
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