Three Creative Ways to See the Good in Your Own Story

It is no secret that we, as human beings, gravitate toward stories. Whether it's the stories that people share with us, or the stories we read online, or the books or movies that we are entertained by, stories have a way of drawing us in. However, when it comes to our own stories, sometimes we're drawn in by the things that we don't like, by the chapters that we wish we could change, by the ways that we've learned to define ourselves based on different things that have happened in the past or how we've been perceived. If you've ever been one to love a good story, and at the same time, find it difficult to see the good in your own story, these three creative ways to see the good in your own story are for you. 

The first thing: Try to see your story in a different genre than you've always seen it. 

Maybe you've seen your story as a drama, but maybe not one of the good ones - maybe one of those that kind of goes on for an extra 35 minutes or even an hour longer than it probably should have - and you're wondering when things are going to wrap up. You're wondering how many slow scenes do we need to get to the point? Maybe that's how you’ve seen your story. However, there are more ways to direct a film. There are more genres out there. 

There's a YouTube channel out there where they take popular films, edit them, and cut the trailers and different scenes from the movies in different ways so that the movie will look like it's in a different genre. They'll take a comedy and then edit it as a drama. Quite a few of these videos have well over a million views. I think perhaps the reason why is interesting - it allows you to see a movie that you've already seen in a completely different way. Even if it's just imaginative - you're never actually going to watch that film, that was a drama as a comedy - it's just interesting to see it in a different way. So what if you did the same for your story? What if there was an awkward or embarrassing moment that just seems to never escape your memory, no matter how much you try to forget about it? What if you saw it as a part of a comedy? Maybe this won't work for every scene. However, maybe there are a few scenes in your life that could perhaps be seen in a different way - maybe a humorous way. Maybe it's the other way around. Maybe it was a simple moment that was actually a symbolic moment that you always want to remember. 

The second thing: Try to write out a different version of a past event, just for you. 

Our memories tend to be a mixture of reality and imagination. We tend to remember things and ways where sometimes the details may get foggy, and our brains kind of fill in the gaps. However, sometimes we tend to fill in those gaps with negative things instead of positive things. So, what if you took a moment to think about a season or a story within your life, where maybe things didn't end the way you want it to. Maybe there was something you wish you had said or you want to just look back out of curiosity as to why that particular memory stands out to you. Give yourself space to take a page in your journal and just write about what you wish you would have said. Just say the thing that you really think you were working through in that season, but you couldn't quite articulate at that time. Even if you don't have a regret or you don't feel like you want to change something in the past, you're still allowed to imagine something new, especially if it's just going in your journal. It's just something that you can have just a different way of looking at things. So just remember the permission that you have with storytelling to create and imagine, even if it's just for the moment. Even if it's just an exercise. Even if it's just for fun, you're allowed to do that. 

The third and final thing: Do the same exact thing for the future.

I once wrote a short poem that says: We tell ourselves so many stories. So here's to telling ourselves beautiful ones. You are allowed to start a new chapter.  You're allowed to say, hey - this chapter I'm in right now is about to end on a cliffhanger, because I have some more things up ahead that I'm really looking forward to, and I just want to write about it. Flip to that next page in your journal and allow yourself to imagine a story that makes you excited about the future. A story that keeps you looking forward with hope - not only how you can make change in your own life, but how you can be a part of the change happening in the lives of those around you. There's still time. It's not too late for you to imagine something new. To imagine the possibility of where this story can go. So here's to using your creativity, to see the good in your own story.

I would like to leave you with a question. You can either journal about this or just carry it with you throughout the day: What does it mean to live a beautiful story?