Societies have survived decades without math, but never has there been a society that didn’t tell stories. It seems crazy, but it makes sense because life doesn’t come to us like a math problem; it comes to us the way a story does, scene by scene. In fact,stories are the creative conversion of life itself into a more powerful and meaningful experience. They are the currency of human contact, and they are good medicine in times of trouble and adversity. It’s the reason why “fine” is just not a good enough answer when someone asks how your weekend or winter break was. Nobody wants to or even cares to remember the easy stories.
The more I thought about it, the more I realized that the point of life is the same as the point of a story, which is character transformation. If the character doesn’t change, the story hasn’t happened yet. It’s ridiculous how much of our lives are spent trying to avoid conflict; half of the commercials on television are selling us something that will make life easier. Part of me wonders if our stories aren’t being stolen by the easy life, because the truth is, great stories need a little disadvantage and discomfort. A person has to go on strange adventures to build up a list of stories. He has to jump off bridges and go for midnight swims, travel to new places and stand in empty deserts, engage in rambling conversations with strangers, and eventually allow himself to fall in love. The ambitions we have will become the stories we live, so if you want to know what a person’s story is about, just ask them what they want.
If you ask me, I want my life to be a testimony to the joy that can be found in spontaneous living. I want to live in a way that inspires people to find out who they are uniquely made to be and what they are uniquely designed to do. I want to live a great story with my life that leaves a beautiful feeling even as the credits roll. And that’s exactly why I created this blog and my travel website in the first place. When I look back on my life, I want to remember the crazy things I did, and all the times I worked harder to make a day stand out. Now, I will list down some of my plans/goals for the year 2016. Goals that will make my year happier than the other years that have past. Here are my 15 goals for this year:
The more I thought about it, the more I realized that the point of life is the same as the point of a story, which is character transformation. If the character doesn’t change, the story hasn’t happened yet. It’s ridiculous how much of our lives are spent trying to avoid conflict; half of the commercials on television are selling us something that will make life easier. Part of me wonders if our stories aren’t being stolen by the easy life, because the truth is, great stories need a little disadvantage and discomfort. A person has to go on strange adventures to build up a list of stories. He has to jump off bridges and go for midnight swims, travel to new places and stand in empty deserts, engage in rambling conversations with strangers, and eventually allow himself to fall in love. The ambitions we have will become the stories we live, so if you want to know what a person’s story is about, just ask them what they want.
If you ask me, I want my life to be a testimony to the joy that can be found in spontaneous living. I want to live in a way that inspires people to find out who they are uniquely made to be and what they are uniquely designed to do. I want to live a great story with my life that leaves a beautiful feeling even as the credits roll. And that’s exactly why I created this blog and my travel website in the first place. When I look back on my life, I want to remember the crazy things I did, and all the times I worked harder to make a day stand out. Now, I will list down some of my plans/goals for the year 2016. Goals that will make my year happier than the other years that have past. Here are my 15 goals for this year: