{"id":1420,"date":"2024-07-04T13:16:05","date_gmt":"2024-07-04T18:16:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/livingyourbestlife60plus.com\/blog\/?p=1420"},"modified":"2024-07-04T13:32:01","modified_gmt":"2024-07-04T18:32:01","slug":"what-story-are-you-living-in","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/livingyourbestlife60plus.com\/blog\/2024\/07\/04\/what-story-are-you-living-in\/","title":{"rendered":"In What Story Are You Living Your Life?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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We just wrapped up a 9-episode series on creating our personal life blueprints\/mission statements. At the end of this post, I\u2019ll share my new, condensed version of my own personal life blueprint\/mission statement. Remember, once we create our personal blueprint\/mission statement, it is ours to change, tweak, or rework\u2014especially as out life and \/or interests change. Likewise, we have the ability to do this same thing with our own lives. We are all a work in progress!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our lives can change once we accept 100% responsibility for our lives and realize we have a working thinking brain that can make the corrections on this path of life we are on. God has given us free will. As I often share, I\u2019m a bible believing Christian and believe God has a great plan for each of us if we are willing to listen. So, I encourage you to read through to the end of this installment where I will share my new condensed personal life blueprint\/mission statement. And if you missed the series, I encourage you to take the challenge. Please go back and read the previous 9 posts and then create your own personal life blueprint\/mission statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In what story are you living your life?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

From this background, today we are going to look at your life: In what story are you living your life?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whether we want to acknowledge it, or not, we are all living out our stories. We all have a set of expectations for ourselves. We see ourselves a certain way and we make decisions that match that. Some of us have never really thought about this, but it\u2019s true. These expectations have come from past experiences, our upbringing and our culture. If you don\u2019t believe me, do this experiment, next time you\u2019re with a group of friends listen to the conversations. When you hear: \u201cI\u2019m a \u2026.\u201d Listen to the answer. Here\u2019s a few ideas of what you might hear: I\u2019m a mom, I\u2019m a runner, I\u2019m a hack at tennis, I\u2019m retired and getting old, I\u2019m an author and I\u2019m working on my next book, I\u2019m just getting by, life sucks, I\u2019m a person that started a non-profit, I am just existing, I\u2019m an empty nester, I have no energy and I\u2019m lost, I\u2019m a realtor, I\u2019m just going through the motions, I can\u2019t wait \u2018til Friday. Now think about yourself, we may not say it out loud, but we have some of these same thoughts in our head. We all have stories we live in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We are all creating and living our stories. it\u2019s what we all do\u2014whether consciously or unconsciously! Now, let\u2019s look at how this can actually be a great tool!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Get out that journal. If you\u2019re not able to do this right now, read all the way through and think about this. Then, when you can, come back to it with a pen and paper. I want you to identify your current story. Reflect on your current beliefs, values and the narratives that are influencing your life. This is what I like to call a brain dump. You might think: \u201cMonette I don\u2019t want to do this, this is being self-absorbed.\u201d Don\u2019t fool yourself, we are all self-absorbed. We are thinking about ourselves 24\/7. I want you to actually get those thoughts on paper and by seeing the story you are living in and evaluate the stories. If you don\u2019t like the story and you want to be of greater value to the people you love and care about, this exercise will help you do just that!  Ok back to the exercise, after you have done this brain dump, I want you to evaluate whether your current story aligns with your faith and aspirations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ll give you a little back story about me. Several years ago, I found myself living in a story that I was miserable in. We had just buried my mom and my mother-in-law. My kids were either in college or early in their careers. I was bored. I felt I didn\u2019t have purpose. My marriage was fine. My fun thing was I played tennis on a team but I wasn\u2019t getting much playing time. Our house was full of the stuff we had brought from our mom\u2019s houses after they had died\u2014which felt overwhelming. I was not living in a great story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you are in this kind of story, maybe you can relate. The one thing that I had going for me was a good morning routine. I am a Christian. I was in the habit of listening to the app Abide<\/a>, a two-minute Christian meditation and reading from Our Daily Bread. I wrote in a prayer journal daily. I prayed about my situation. This is what I felt God showed me: \u201cMonette you\u2019re healthy and you have a thinking brain, but you are living in a not so good story.\u201d During this time, I journaled a lot. Looking back now, I was honestly writing out the story I was living in. I was very discouraged. I started listening  to encouraging podcasts and good audible books that aligned with my values and Christian beliefs. This is when I realized I had to take 100 percent responsibility for my life. If I wanted a thriving marriage, I had to change that story. If I wanted to play more tennis on a team, maybe I needed to create and captain my own team. I  found new and up and coming players that didn\u2019t like drama tennis either and who agreed with the mission statement I created: \u201cLet\u2019s, play hard, have fun and let\u2019s all get better together.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over time, we were able to organize our home,  get rid of  a lot of stuff to make room for our moms\u2019 stuff (this is still a work in progress). During this time is when I started my Mornings with Monette podcast. Having been a lifelong learner who loves sharing ideas to help my friends, I wanted to share these ideas with my friends. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

God really brought me through that season. God guided me to create a new and better story! With everything I share with you, I have this underlying thought: \u201cI would never ask you to do things that I\u2019m not willing to do myself.\u201d So, when I ask you \u201cWhat story are you living in?\u201d It\u2019s because I continually ask myself the same question.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Start with What Feeds Your Soul?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Once you\u2019ve done the brain dump and journaled your stories, here are some suggestions as you evaluate your story. I\u2019m going to assume you are a Christian and I am starting ideas to feed your soul!<\/p>\n\n\n\n