What bothers me about cliches is that, oftentimes, they sound so cheesy while, at the same time, are so true. Someone, somewhere, identified an experience and attached some pithy words to it which we can then relate to…sometimes begrudgingly. 

Here’s my love-hate relationship with a particular cliche: write your own story. The sound of this both bothers and inspires me. 

“Write your own story” means that I have the power to author my experience of life. How wonderful! What this also means is that I have the power to author my experience of life. Such hard work!

Note: My experience of life is how I frame and respond to events. Not the events themselves…sometimes, they are out of our control.

Many times I’ve said to myself “that’s just how I am” regarding the way I think about or react to things. As I reflect on this comment, I can convince myself (if I let it) that just like my hair or eye color, the shape of my face or my height…that this is just how I am.

But I know, if I’m being honest with myself, that my perspective of myself, others and the world has been taught and/or learned…and, therefore, can be untaught, unlearned, and replaced by what’s true now…based on new information as well as a broader perspective of the world. I get to update my story. Not revise history but, rather, reconsider how my past influences my present and can shape my future, depending on how I choose to apply it.

At this stage in my life, I feel like I’m in my reflections era – not to sound like a Swiftie – and my script is changing in some areas, staying the same in other areas and waiting to emerge in others of which I’m not yet aware.

All in all, knowing that the script, ie the way I look at things, can change then presents me with a choice. Do I want to make a change? And, if so, what am I willing do to make it happen? There’s no right or wrong answer just an acknowledgment that either way is a choice. We can convince ourselves that we don’t have a choice but, when we stop and think it out, more often than not we do have a choice. Again, a blessing and a burden…

So if you think back to your origins and reflect on your path, how has your story evolved? How have you evolved? Do you have a “this is just who I am” belief? And, is it in sync with the reality of where you are now? Have you updated your script?