Wednesday, May 25, 2011

inspire me on hump day: live a better story.


"Fear isn’t only a guide to keep us safe; it’s also a manipulative emotion that can trick us into living a boring life … the great stories go to those who don’t give in to fear."
D. Miller

Donald Miller in his book A Million Miles in a Thousand Years discusses the "inciting incident."  "Robert McKee says humans naturally seek comfort and stability.  Without an inciting incident that disrupts their comfort, they won't enter into a story.  They have to get fired from their job or be forced to sign up for a marathon.  A ring has to be purchased.  A home has to be sold.  The character has to jump into the story, into the discomfort and the fear, otherwise the story will never happen."


So wherever you find yourself this hump day...first off, don't give way to whatever fear is holding you back from living a better story...a better life...or even just a better day.  If there's something big that happened and totally sucked...or you feel is about to happen...it's those incidences/major life things that have the enormous potential to be a huge part of your story and make it completely beautiful...completely worthwhile.

Secondly...sometimes you need to cause your "inciting incident."  Has life become boring and mundane?  DO something different.  Stick to your word and travel where you have always wanted to this year.  Regain a relationship you lost by making the phone call.  Climb Machu Picchu (Donald Miller did).  Get out of the boring story and create a new one.
"We have to get up off the couch and turn the television off, we have to blow up the inner-tubes and head to the river.  We have to write the poem and deliver it in person.  We have to pull the car off the road and hike to the top of the hill.  We have to put on our suits, we have to dance at weddings." 
D.Miller

Posted by AshleyM at Wednesday, May 25, 2011
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