Recently I’ve been reading a book called Million Miles in a Thousand Years. The book talks about the author, Donald Miller’s, journey to finding and creating a “meaningful story” for his life. A lot of us give up on our stories because once we start, we realize it is difficult, and we pick an easier story to live. But once you live a good story, you get a taste for a kind of meaning in life, and you can’t go back to being normal.

He also writes that “If the point of life is the same as the point of a story, the point of life is character transformation.” But to achieve character transformation, we have to struggle and go through challenges to achieve our goals- that’s where the transformation happens. No one likes a character ini a movie who just got their end goal without going through any character development or challenges. And how much of it is even about what you are searching for, as it is about the the journey to search for it changes you? Many of us naturally seek comfort and stability. Without an inciting incident to disrupt our comfort, we won’t enter into a story.

I am trying to figure out how I can create a better story for myself- an inciting incident to enter into a story. What can I actively induce in my life to live a meaningful story? How do I figure out what is important to me so that I know what kind of story to tell?

What is something you’ve faced with courage that has changed your story? What kinds of stories are you living?