All of us would love to live a great story. We all want our life to matter, and we want to have an impact on the world around us. That world around us, though, often has other plans. How many of us have great intentions of living a great life, making the world a better place, etc., only to find out that our amazing influence is not necessarily appreciated or encouraged. By anyone! But as you may have heard before: change your brain change your life. Whether our story turns out great or not, or whether we become a better person or not doesn’t depend on the people around us, it depends on us.
Living the Good Life
Once we realize that living the good life depends on us instead of our surroundings or our current situation, it surprisingly takes the pressure off of us. The pressure to create the perfect marriage or relationship, the pressure to find the perfect job, the pressure to make sure that we’re in an optimum position to “be happy,” is now gone. When we realize the way to living a better life comes from how we react to the situations we’ve been put in, we suddenly find ourselves in control instead of living at the mercy of everything that affects us. Let’s look at how we can live a great story even when nobody cares.
Live Right
It really doesn’t matter if no one expresses appreciation or encouragement toward your efforts to live a great story. And how you live your life will make a difference, whether any of the “influencees” want to admit it or not. Here are 5 ways you can live a great story within the context of your life, become a better person in the process, and make a difference even when it seems impossible.
Don’t Be Surprised
When you do your best to live a great story — to live beautifully — don’t be surprised when people act out against you. Why? Because you live in a world where people are broken, and their brokenness comes out in their lives every day. People are going to be harsh, and it usually has nothing to do with you. So don’t be surprised, and keep doing what you know is right.
Don’t Be Spiteful
This is a hard one, but it’s worth it. Everybody has a defensive nature lurking just below the surface – it’s a protective mechanism. But that doesn’t mean we have to activate it. You have control of your own self, and kindness is worth it, believe me. Not only that, but it pays off, so it’s ultimately self-serving (in a good way)! If you can avoid spitefulness and hand out kindness instead, it won’t only affect others’ lives positively, it will also make your life better. And actually even more so than theirs.
Don’t Be Jaded
Don’t allow yourself to be soured by the bitterness of life around you. Don’t allow jadedness to sneak in on you. There’s definitely a tension between living through the harshness of your situation and remaining non-jaded in the process, but it’s another thing that’s worth doing on purpose. Will it hurt? Sometimes. Does life hurt? Sometimes. But is it worth it? Yes, it is. Always.
Don’t Be Stupid
Sometimes life hurts, that’s true, and we don’t want to be jaded and spiteful because of that. But likewise, we don’t want to be stupid. If someone is throwing a spear at you, are you going to stand there and take a spear to the heart? No, you’re going to duck when you need to duck. You’re going to jump out of the way of the spear. We have to know when to stand and when to duck.
Don’t Stop
So – sometimes we show up & it’s great; other times we show up and it hurts, and still other times we duck and run. But no matter what, we don’t stop. This beautiful thing called life is always worth it, and we must never stop trying. Never stop being kind, never stop showing up for the relationships, never stop loving others even when it’s expensive. That’s how you live a great story — and all in all you will enjoy it completely.
