Tell a bigger story

If your life seems closed down, shuttered, in a rut, going nowhere, lacking meaning, maybe it's time to consider a bigger story.

One challenge many writers face is the harsh realization that you've written yourself into a corner. This is a lot like painting yourself into a corner, where the options are wait until the paint dries, or leave a fresh set of footprints all over your nice new floor. Both are good options, when used appropriately.

In life, sometimes we drift into a pattern that made sense at the time, but now we're...stuck. The story seems caught somewhere in the middle of the forest, with trial after trial and wicked old Baba Yaga just waiting to pounce on you, or worse, you're Rapunzel in the tower waiting...(in our case, the handsome prince is a metaphor for whatever it is that you're waiting for). But what if Rapunzel climbed down her own hair, instead of lowering it for her jailer or her rescuer? What if Snow White looked at the apple and said, huh, think I'll peel this and make an apple pie? What if I did something no one--not even I--expect me to do?

What if I make my life story bigger than me? Walk in a breast cancer walk? Write a poem and recite it at a poetry jam...just to say I did? Made a bucket list (aka life list) and committed myself to marking things off it, one at a time? Learned how to teach someone to read? Ladled out rice and beans at a soup kitchen?

What if I found a way that speaks to me (it's no good if you try to push yourself into someone else's idea of it--that's just exhausting) by which no matter what I do, I see how it's part of the broader community, the bigger story...what if I decided that being a cog in the machine was just okay...because every machine needs its cogs.

What if?