If you listen to the news media or spend your days scrolling through social media posts, it’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking the sky is falling. It’s not.
If you’re finding the news depressing, turn it off.
If you can’t trust what your friends and others are sharing on social media, do your own research or stop reading the fake news posts they share.
In your life, you are the main character.
Your life is about you and you are the author of your story, even if you’re inadvertently following someone else’s script.
To take control of your story, all you need to do is accept responsibility for deciding what’s important in life and what it means for you.
It’s easy to let media experts, political commentators, and politicians tell you what’s going on in the world – and to blame them for the mess we seem to be in. But, the reality is they’re all only bit players in your story. In your life, you are the main character. The story is about you and you get to tell it from your perspective.
The challenge is to discern your authentic voice from all the others you hear within your mind – which you can’t do until you examine the content of your inner dialogue.
To become aware of what’s going on in your mind, stop listening to the external voices of the world and start listening to what you tell yourself. Pay attention to what you hear yourself say and think, and, if you can, write it down.
A daily practice of reflecting on the events of your day and keeping a journal of your thoughts will help you become aware of what you believe about yourself, the people in your life, and the circumstances of your existence.
Unfortunately, a lot of what we tell ourselves is not true but, unless we question what we say about ourselves and the world we live in, we’ll continue to believe it.
One of the challenges we face living in a media dominated world is taking on the opinions of people we regard as experts, while failing to recognise that every commentator has an agenda that does not necessarily align with what’s in our best interest.
There is only one person who can decide what’s in your best interest – and that’s you.
Only you get to walk in your shoes.
Since the day you were born, a lot of people with the best of intentions have told you what’s in your best interest. The reality is, though, parents, teachers, and friends can only give you advice from their perspective.
Only you get to walk in your shoes. Only you get to see things the way you see things. It’s not possible for anyone to understand your lived experience the way you do.
To control your story, you have to work out what’s in your best interest every time, and that means putting aside the opinions embedded in your cultural, religious, and scholastic education and determining what the facts are, and what they mean for you.
And, the best thing about being the author of your own story is you can edit the details and change the storyline. You can even reinvent yourself and start a new story.
Image Credit: Matthew Addington | DTS