I read a book* recently (I'm surprised more of my conversations don't start with that line) about a man who realized his life wasn't that good of a story. It wasn't a bad one, per say, it just wasn't good. It wasn't doing him any favors and nobody would want to watch the thing if it were a movie...
So he did something about it. Less for the movie aspect, and more for the having a life worth living side.
That synopsis doesn't sound nearly as deep as it feels in my head, but we'll get there, stick with me.
So, as I was reading this story I found myself relating to certain parts (as we do when we find what we think is a good story) and almost wanting to cry. This could be because I seem to have a surplus of tears lately, or it could be because what was being said held some weight, some deep and significant relevance to my life.
I picked up the book any time I could, I spent hours in beach parking lots reading by the light of the setting sun... well, maybe two hours, three tops... but you get the point. It was a good scene to read a book with weight and meaning.
I am in this story, and I've created it, I'm suppose to be creating it... or maybe something else is. Something that I refer to as Mother Nature or the Universe or the system and what he refers to as God... is writing this story, and it's not without conflict, and for some reason I expect it to be. For some reason I feel like a lot of us expect this created, blessed life to be without hardship, maybe not those who hit hard and wised up a bit... but some of us hit hard and ran. I'll raise my hand and admit it... hard hit several times and I thought things were suppose to be relatively easy so I ran, thinking the next place might be easier, or the last place, or back to the second place... or back to home again. Nothing was easier. I was still there, plots still have to thicken and the resolve of the main character has to have strength.
I'm in a moment of high conflict in my story right now. And I want to run. But I know I don't have anywhere that I can go for long. And I know that the only way to come out of this better than before is to go through. I'm wincing just thinking about it, but my struggles are really not so bad. When I sit back and think, and compare to other plights, I realize I'm living a pretty basic life.
So maybe I'm not wanting hard or big enough, maybe I'm not working hard or big enough. Maybe I've exhausted the inner work projects and need to find some outer work projects to bring new life to my story. Because right now it's sad, and not pretty. My story is looking on the shabby side and there's no chic involved. My life hurts almost daily, it feels unstable... I often want to take a break from myself. Being sedated sounds like a great option if I wasn't so adverse to drugs, prescribed or not.
But that's not how this goes, that's not how this gets better. If I keep avoiding or running the problem section, the conflict might go away for a bit, but it's not gone, it's just waiting. It's another test and this time it really needs me to get through. Correction, I really need me to get through.
___
It's been a week since I started writing this post and some things have changed. I went to a meeting for Depression and Bipolar which was very insightful, I found a new place to live that is a lot more stable than where I was before, time passed and the hurt of being "given space" to figure out my life lost a bit of it's edge, I went to the shooting range and found a quiet mind for an hour, I went on two interviews and I spent some much needed time with friends.
To say that I'm out of the woods is a stretch. This month is going to be tough, but I think it's going to be a different kind of tough. I'm hoping it's a tough that means rebuilding instead of falling apart. Sometimes things are still going to seem a little broken, sometimes I'm going to feel sad, but I think I'm on the up for now. There's so much work to be done still, but some of it I will really enjoy, and other parts... well, I'll soldier on through them.
It's time to be a little more active, time to make some things happen, time to add exciting bits to the storyline. That's when the story starts getting good, when an effort is made. And I'm sitting here, some days just doing everything I can to show up, others doing that and more.
I don't want to look back years from now and wonder what happened, why I stayed so small. I want my life to be big, and maybe that's what 2013 knew. Maybe what felt like destruction was making room for growth. I can only hope, and continue to live my story.
xoxo
* A Million Miles in a Thousand Years - Donald Miller
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