I have a random brain
I have a random brain, you don’t have to feel sorry for me, I like it. It’s fun and helps me generate possibilities and ideas quickly when I need to. It also makes interruptions a bigger deal than they should be. I do whatever I can to avoid interruptions. Sometimes I wear headphones when nothing is playing so I won’t be interrupted. But this is one kind of interruption I need, and so do you. Let me explain.
We tell ourselves stories all-day
I caught myself in the midst of a story this morning on my way to work. I woke up a tad uncomfortable with some minor back pain. As I walked the short distance from my car into the building I was fully engaged in a story about my day. A story where I was both the storyteller, and the audience, and the story wasn’t good. The story was about how my day was inevitably going to suffer. How I would be uncomfortable and irritable because of the way I woke up.
Interrupting a bad story
I needed to interrupt my story. Here is the truth behind my disempowering story. The way I approach the day is a choice and not a passive response. I get to choose my attitude regardless of what has or will happen. I am in control of at least that much, and quite a bit more. There was a truth, I woke up in pain. But I was choosing to be irritable. If that was indeed a choice, I had options but only if I interrupted the victim story I was telling myself.
Recognizing that you’re living out of a story and not reality is the first step to changing your experience.
-Bryan Zevotek
Curious People have a better chance at positive change
You probably find yourself in this situation too, we all do. Recognizing that you’re living out of a story and not reality is the first step to changing your experience. Once you recognize you’re telling yourself a story get curious. What is the action your story allows you to avoid? What emotion or argument for inaction and complacency does it validate?
Stories, Stories Everywhere… even work
At work, your stories may play out differently but they exist. What are they? What ones get a repeat performance the most? How about at home? Do you tell yourself stories about your best intentions? Do you tell stories of the lack of something in others? Recognizing your stories and interrupting them is a powerful way to move from victim to hero.