It Was That Easy

What story do you tell yourself about yourself?

We all have certain versions of ourselves that we hold to be true.

You hate chocolate ice cream.

You can’t stand for people to stand in your personal space.

Your favorite movie is Coming to America (and you’re nervous about the sequel).

You never fold your laundry until days (or weeks) after it’s come out of the dryer. I mean, doesn’t everybody?

But there are certain stories that we’re CHOOSING to hold on to even if they aren’t serving us.

I got back from Mexico this past Friday, and as I entered my apartment and placed my luggage down, I laughed about how I probably wouldn’t unpack for another month.

It had become my norm.

I’d walk past my suitcase day after day until I finally decided it was ridiculous not to have unpacked.

So, I grabbed my phone to type a FB post about not unpacking (because it’s always fun to have other people unite in the ridiculousness), but something stopped me.

Why couldn’t I unpack right then? I literally had nothing else I had to do.

Why was I hanging on to the version of myself that wouldn’t unpack for a month??

I dropped my phone, grabbed my luggage, and started unpacking.

Ten minutes later, I was finished.

In that 10-minute time span, I went from being the person who takes weeks to unpack her suitcase to the person who unpacks right when she gets home from her trip.

It was that easy.

And because it was something that small, it made me stop and wonder what bigger narratives I was holding on to.

Were there other ridiculous things I kept telling myself about myself and were only true because I was continually choosing to make them true?

So, in this second week of the new year, I ask you, who do you choose to be?

What habits and narratives are you continually choosing that aren’t serving who you want to become?

You know, the you who always “goes to bed too late and is going to be tired in the morning.” (develop a nighttime routine)

Or, the you who “always loses track of time at work and forgets to eat lunch.” (set a lunchtime alarm)

Or even the you who “binge watches Netflix after work instead of studying for that certification you’ve been saying you want.” (give yourself a time limit and stick to it)

There are so many stories that we keep repeating to ourselves as if they are engraved in stone when, in actuality, we can re-write them at any time.

And if you feel resistance when you think about changing the narrative, that warrants an even deeper question of why you’re choosing to hang on to it in the first place.

Are there any stories that you can change this week, or even today?

Some of them won’t be as easy as unloading a suitcase the day you get home from a trip.

But it’s the continual choosing that helps to form new habits.

Re-write your narrative so you are choosing habits that contribute to the person you WANT to be because the person you ARE can change at any time you choose to.