Your Life is Missing Key Elements of a Great Story
Gwendal Bar
“...I wondered if life could be lived more like a good story in the first place.”
During these hazy times, a bit dizzying too, lack of direction is in the air. Whether it’s due to pandemic fatigue, or energy depletion, this post-covid era is difficult and confusing to navigate. Upon reading A Million Miles in a Thousand Years: How I Learned to Live a Better Story by Don Miller, I thought more about inciting incidents and creating doorways to force discomfort and growth.
In the book, Don documents a transformative journey using tools that Robert Mckee instructed and taught on storytelling. We are all made of stories, and every day we’re presented with opportunities to choose - much like a fictional character. Story and life merge once the meaningless scenes are taken out.
“Humans naturally seek comfort and stability. Without an inciting incident - that disrupts their comfort, they wouldn’t enter into a story”
Unlike Don, I have felt - since I was a child - that life has been too exciting (more like frightening), and the adult portion of my life should then be easier due to the choices I make. Unlearning and healing has brought me to a place where I want to keep growing - which means seeking challenge. And Discomfort.
Don hypothesizes that we feel muddled in our lives because, unlike characters in a film, we aren’t clear about what we want. It’s easy to want a certain life, where you choose to be brave and seek out disruption. However, as humans we love stability. We choose stability above all else.
It takes courage to live out our lives in a similar fashion to characters in a story. Conflict is inevitable. Perhaps it’s best to start slow, identify a purpose and the fears we have, and use that to build a better story.
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