Your life, your story

I wrote this little blurb a couple weeks ago for the newsletter I've been producing for my work colleague participants. I thought it was worth posting here. A shout out to Natalia for sending me the Manifesto!

Remember those Choose Your Own Adventure books from childhood? Those fiction adventure stories in which you were the central character and if you chose path A, you’d turn to page X, or if you chose path B, you’d turn to page Y? Anyone?

Well, nothing’s changed, my friend! You’re still choosing your own adventure and it’s called life. But, is the story that you’re living one that you’d actually read? Or one that you’d want others reading?

In John Runyon’s Impossible: The Manifesto, the central question Runyon asks is, “Are you telling a good story with your life?”

Runyon’s point is that you get to write your own story. Despite what we’re conditioned to believe by society— parents, grandparents, siblings, educators, employers—we are not limited by the scope of other people’s expectations.

What does that have to do with anything we’re doing here? Plenty.

It’s all starts with a challenge. It’s easy to accept what’s comfortable, routine and expected as the story of your life. But the real satisfaction, the real reward, lies beyond the boundaries of what’s easy and comfortable. By choosing our 30-day challenges, no matter how small or trivial they may seem, we’re pushing ourselves (some gently, some more violently!) just outside of those boundaries. By pushing your limits, you start to realize that they exist only in your mind.

So while you may think that you only signed up for this to start eating better, exercising regularly or thinking more positively, you could see this opportunity as the first tiny baby-step toward making significant lifestyle changes or shifting your perceptions.

As Runyon asks, “If you’re not going to die, what’s the worst that could happen?” Of course, if you’re just in it for fun, that’s ok too.

Impossible: The Manifesto can be found here.

[Important side note: While the Manifesto is inspiring, it’s peppered with grammar mishaps. Fellow grammar snobs, be warned: if you’re going to read it, ignore your instinct to get out the red pen!]