Know What? Your Story is Not Your Destiny.

October 1, 2014

13405599515_c06216d86e_b“If you can’t fly then run; if you can’t run then walk; if you can’t walk then crawl; but whatever you do, you have to keep moving forward.” – Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

 

It is important to believe you can manifest your desires in spite of what you see around you in this moment. Hold the vision for what you want and make the decision to move forward.

 

There’s something deeply disturbing about giving up the things that we are comfortable with. Even if we’re not terribly happy with our situation, there can be a certain comfort in knowing what to expect day after day. A reason for that is because our sense of self is wrapped up in a certain way of life.

 

We are much more than what we do during working hours, just as we are much more than the names we’ve been given. We are also much more than our physical appearance, our ethnicity, skin color, age or sexual orientation. Deep down we are more complex than even we can realize. Our lives are the sum of our experiences, and each of these experiences has given us a story about who we think we are.

 

No doubt you’ve heard that people live from their perceptions, or that perception is reality. Our perception…our story is what we live through. It defines us. It’s the roadmap we look at to tell us where we are and what is happening around us.

 

In the end, we cannot change the world to suit us. However we can change how we respond to the world.

 

Where we run into trouble is when we allow those stories to become part of our identity. I’ve met many people who say that they can’t write, or they hate writing. I’d guess that somewhere in that person’s past they were made to feel that their writing wasn’t good enough.

 

So, they accepted that story as their reality. The same is true for people who have been told they are stupid, or ugly or not quite good enough to be successful.

 

When you decide to make a change in your life, you are starting on a journey of discovery. You will be made to pull off layer after layer of the stories and beliefs that you’ve held for years.

 

Sooner or later we’ll have to address the part of ourselves that we suppressed so that we could live according to our stories. When that happens, it becomes impossible for us to pretend to be what we are not.

 

That’s when the work begins. Going through that experience enables us to discover who we really are.

 

Copyright © 2010 – 2014 Deborah A. Bailey

Excerpted from Think Like an Entrepreneur: Transforming Your Career and Taking Charge of Your Life.

Photo Credit: Niels Linneberg via Compfight cc

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Deborah A Bailey

Deborah is a writer, writing workshop presenter and published author. She's host of the Women Entrepreneurs Radio podcast.

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