For some people, they believe their story ends with a tragedy or failure, and they take matters into their own hands to make it real because that’s all they can see. For others, they can’t see their story continue beyond their present circumstances, and they’re left with feelings of hopelessness and grief, and they give up and their story changes to one of despair. And then there’s those people who know that their story doesn’t end here, and they continue on. They might even make new stories for themselves.
Last year I read a story about a teenage boy who had been dumped by his girlfriend so he hung himself, because without her love, life wasn’t worth living. Many years ago, a friend told me his father killed himself because he didn’t know how he was going to pay the bills, so shooting himself in the head was the only answer for him. Last night in a movie I watched, one of the characters was upset by something she was told, so she decided throwing herself over the balcony was a good idea (she was prevented from doing so, and a love story began). This morning I read about someone whose father had died, along with their pet bird, on the same day, and they didn’t know how they could continue.
Thomas Edison, aged 67, watched his his laboratory burn to the ground and said, “Thank goodness all our mistakes were burned up. Now we can start again fresh”.
In 1922, Harry S Truman was 38 years old, in debt, and out of work. By 1945, as President of the US, he was the most powerful leader of the free world.
Last year, after being out of work for 8 months, I was depressed, but my wife reminded me that the cycles of good and bad times go up and they go down. If we’re in a bad time, then there’ll be a good time again. A month later, I found work and things were good again.
Whatever it is that’s happening today, tomorrow will be better. You’re always the author of your story, and you can always choose how it continues.
John Maxwell said, “Life is 10% what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it.” He also said, “You cannot always control what happens to you, but you can control what happens IN you.”
No matter what happens, your story does not end here. As long as you’re still breathing, your story continues, and how it continues is entirely up to you.
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