The Making of a Good Life Story

My 41st birth­day is on Sun­day, and I always seem to do a lot of reflect­ing around this time. The other day I headed to the beach to watch the sun­set and to con­sider who I am, where I have been, and how I want to live the next 41 years of my life (God willing).

Dur­ing this reflec­tion time I started think­ing about sto­ries. Whether you are watch­ing a movie or read­ing a book, a good story can really keep you on the edge of your chair. Espe­cially the dramas.

Have you ever noticed how the best dra­mas tend to be filled with anguish, love, death, joy, and suf­fer­ing? Who would want to watch or read some­thing that didn’t have at least a few of those com­po­nents? Imag­ine a movie or book that just kept going on and on about how great someone’s life was — with never an ill­ness, a heart­break, or a loss. Bor­ing!

Each of us are liv­ing dra­mas every day, being played out on the big screen of our lives. The sto­ry­line includes intrigue, anguish, long­ing, and loss. Fam­ily, friends, careers, and hobbies.

Some­times our life sto­ries place us front and cen­ter, like the pro­tag­o­nist in our favorite movie. We get to make deci­sions that are impor­tant – even though they could be heartbreaking.

Other times we cast our­selves as extras, watch­ing the action from the side­lines. Feel­ing, quite pos­si­bly, like intrud­ers in our own lives. That hap­pens when we feel dis­con­nected to the choices we have made or dis­ap­pointed in the oppor­tu­ni­ties that we have allowed to pass us by.

Here is what I have learned, almost 41 years into my own story: no mat­ter what has hap­pened so far in our lives, we can still write a dif­fer­ent ending.

Your happy end­ing can be filled with the love you have been wait­ing for, the career you always wanted to try, or the atti­tude you’ve always wanted to exhibit.

What­ever the story of your life says about you so far, take time to reflect and to eval­u­ate it as if it is a movie you are watch­ing or a book you are read­ing. Then decide how you want it to end.

You are, after all, the author.