How do you want to live your life? In the past? Or looking towards the future? Do you want to live the story of your past over and over again? Or do you want to be the protagonist of your story and live the life you want to write for yourself? It is your choice!
Often we get caught in the trap of thinking that our past is what dictates who we are. We may feel that we don’t have a choice and that life happens to us. If we don’t have any control, we have given the pen that is writing our story to others. They may write something we don’t want to live.
We always have choices. In his book “Man’s Search for Meaning,” Viktor Frankl shared his experience in the concentration camps during the Holocaust. He was able to take the horrible experience he had and decide what he was going to accept. He could have given up as many around him did, but he chose to live to hopefully see his wife again and to share what he had learned. He states:
Between stimulus and response, there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.
Viktor E. Frankl
This response Frankl talks about is what determines our future. It isn’t what happened to us in the past. We need to leave the past behind.
So… how are we going to respond? How can we write the story that we want to be the protagonist for?
First, you need to get an idea of where you want to go. How do you want to live? What do you want to do? What are the characteristics you are going to need to be able to live this future life? Choose to PROTAG!
PERSPICACITY (what impacts your ability to learn)
RESOLUTION (what moves you to action)
OPTIMISM (how you view the world)
TALENT (how you use the resources available to you)
ACTION-ORIENTED (how you approach challenges)
GENEROUS (how your actions impact others)
PROTAGing your way through life creates a genius story!