Imagine...
Somebody comes to you and asks you to write a story.
They give you the title: A Perfect Life.
Except you don’t get to choose the main character. You have no control over their family or the way they were raised.
But their friends? Every relationship, job, and each tiny decision they make in their life? That's all you. You’re the guiding hand in their personal adventure. At every moment of choice, it's your pen writing the next paragraph.
How would you write it? How would you write the book that you would want to read?
Would a boring, unfulfilling job make up the bulk of the novel? How many times would you write the same conversation over and over again before you had the main character make a change?
Does your main character complain constantly or are they an inspiration? Do they try new things?
Living a fulfilling life is about writing your story with intention-- writing to make it the best possible version of your novel that it can be.
We All Know It's True
Everybody has moments of realization that they're their own main character...
My cousin who once told me she narrates her everyday life scenes in her head, "Brushing her teeth, Kerry stares into the mirror at her own blemished face and humid hair. She doesn't feel ugly at all. But she's certainly nothing to write home about. She'll have to make herself something to write home about, she thinks.”
I met a sound engineer in Copenhagen who told me he frequently scores the soundtrack to his daily activities.
We all feel like the main character in our own lives... But how often do we act like it?
And how does one live as the main character when the world constantly feels like a power-hungry director, telling you what you can and can not do? Here are the fundamentals:
Be true to you.
I know this sounds like it should be written on a motivational poster. But, it's true.
The hand of society likes to write people's stories for them at the will of its expectations. So make sure the choices you’re making are coming from a genuine place.
Don't take everything that happens as your ultimate destiny. If you don't like something, change it.
If the current chapter feels boring, liven it up. Try new things. The main character is control. Use that power.
Be confident.
You're more than just one employee at a company of thousands. You're not a passive commuter on the train. Dance to the music in your head (literal or imaginary). Who cares? You do you. And do it confidently. Make your story interesting-- whether it's a series of short, entertaining moments or one massive adventure. Best-sellers come in all forms.
You're in control.
Good books have drama. They have ups and downs. But that isn't what makes it a good book or a bad book. How the main character reacts to these moments is what matters. You aren't in total control of what happens to you, but you choose how you react.
The universe is going to steal the pen sometimes and ink in a curveball chapter. Maybe you get drunk sometimes and scribble all over the page. Whatever it is, our stories occasionally end up a little messier than we would like.
When you have a bad chapter or an unexpected plot twist, you are the one who gets to choose how the main character reacts.