Your Life, Your Story

Your Life, Your Story
11/30/2020 12:00:01 AM by: C.L. Lawrence

It’s Your Life Story

Read it Your Way

YOU CANNOT CHANGE THE PAST

BUT YOU CAN CHANGE YOUR INTERPRETATION OF IT

Do any of these statements sound familiar?

If I had it to do over again, ….
I wish I had another chance.
If I could start over, I’d do things differently; make different decisions.
I wish I had taken that job.
I wish I had not taken that trip.

Maybe you didn’t use those exact words, but the essence of the thought resonates with just about everyone in some way at some point in life when we lament decisions, resent situations and regret the mistakes and hurts from the past. We can even identify that one decision, that one choice that changed the trajectory of our lives and had we chosen differently things would have turned out differently, if not better.

That’s absolutely true. A different decision, perhaps the one you’re thinking of right now would have taken you down another path and your life would certainly have been different. Different. Yes. Hmmm? But better? Don’t bother to entertain that possibility because you’ll go nuts thinking about what you can never prove to be true.

Sure, you may differ, but before digging your heels into the mud of disagreement, know this. We cannot change the past, but we can change our interpretation of the past. Every yesterday brought you to this point; to the unique and amazing person you are right now. It is living that teaches the life lessons. Every bad decision taught you how to make good ones. The struggles that made you strong; the disappointments that opened your eyes to see a new direction. It was the pain that made you know better next time; the failures that made you seek and find another way. The very seeds of mistakes yielded the harvest of wisdom that lights your way now. All of that made you dream again, or even wonder if you could.

All of it, every mountaintop experience, and deep, cold, dark valley; every celebration, and every nightmare in the daytime was a part of your evolution, the unfolding of the unique blend of you. It’s too much to ask to be grateful for the tragedies, but it is worth noting that you’re still here. You made it. Maybe beat up, bruised and slapped to the side of the road by life, but you’re here and that’s something worth great gratitude.

There’s much excitement around the notion of destiny, the glorious end. It’s as though if you can endure, hold out and hold on, you’ll make it to that wonderful destiny, then all will be well. Whatever your destiny is, however you define it or visualize it, remember, beloved, there’s the journey that leads to the destiny. The journey is your story.

What happens on the journey determines your destiny. Your choices determine your destiny, what your destination will look like. The choices you’ve made on your journey thus far have brought you to this destiny place today, for each day is the destiny of yesterday’s journey. Your choices on your life journey from now on determine your destiny. Create it. Write your story the way you want it.