In his brilliant book “A Million Miles in a Thousand Years,” my boyfriend Donald Miller talks about how our lives are like a story. A story consists of a character who wants something and has to overcome conflict to get it. In one section he discusses the “want.” What we want determines the quality of our story. No one would want to go see a movie about a guy who wants a Volvo and has to overcome conflict to get it.
I had the sobering realization the other day that this actually is my current story. What do I want? A Subaru. I have really good reasons for wanting it. It will allow me to do more of the things I love, and save money doing them because I can just sleep in the back of my car. But attaining this Subaru is not easy. It’s going to take several months of saving. And, as a result of that saving, I won’t be able to go on many hiking adventures. This is the conflict I have to overcome to reach my goal.
Would anyone want to watch a movie about my life right now? Most definitely not. And this is why I’ve kind of been a hermit lately, not calling or hanging out with people. I’m boring. My story is going to work to get a paycheck to pay my numerous and overwhelming bills. I get up at 5:15, work all day, come home, have dinner, obsess over Weight Watcher points, watch tv, and go to bed.
When I talked to Rachel the other night, she suggested the next step would be figuring out what I can change to live a better story. But honestly, I don’t think there’s much I can do right now. I need to lose weight, pay my bills, and get a new car. The exciting story can come after those things have been accomplished. I guess sometimes every story gets boring. Just like on True Blood. Mico once pointed out how they had to have some building episodes that lead up to the exciting stuff. So I have to see this period in my life as a building episode and know that the excitement is coming. I’m just really bad at being patient.
I had the sobering realization the other day that this actually is my current story. What do I want? A Subaru. I have really good reasons for wanting it. It will allow me to do more of the things I love, and save money doing them because I can just sleep in the back of my car. But attaining this Subaru is not easy. It’s going to take several months of saving. And, as a result of that saving, I won’t be able to go on many hiking adventures. This is the conflict I have to overcome to reach my goal.
Would anyone want to watch a movie about my life right now? Most definitely not. And this is why I’ve kind of been a hermit lately, not calling or hanging out with people. I’m boring. My story is going to work to get a paycheck to pay my numerous and overwhelming bills. I get up at 5:15, work all day, come home, have dinner, obsess over Weight Watcher points, watch tv, and go to bed.
When I talked to Rachel the other night, she suggested the next step would be figuring out what I can change to live a better story. But honestly, I don’t think there’s much I can do right now. I need to lose weight, pay my bills, and get a new car. The exciting story can come after those things have been accomplished. I guess sometimes every story gets boring. Just like on True Blood. Mico once pointed out how they had to have some building episodes that lead up to the exciting stuff. So I have to see this period in my life as a building episode and know that the excitement is coming. I’m just really bad at being patient.
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