For the last 25 years, I’ve been leading a double life.

By day, I’m a mild-mannered personal-growth blogger, Law of Attraction practitioner, and Life-Optimization coach. But I also have an alter-ego as a novelist and screenwriter with a particular fondness for absurd humor.

For years, I never thought that these two sides would meet. They seemed like completely unrelated parts of me, dwelling in unconnected worlds: personal growth in the “real world” and stories in the world of fiction.

Recently, however, I’ve started to realize that  telling stories isn’t just reserved for fiction writers. In fact, we all tell stories — every day of our lives!

Sometimes we tell our stories to others. Sometimes we just tell them to ourselves. Stories like…

• I’m too old for this.
• I always sabotage myself.
• I’m no good with technology.
• I have the worst luck!
• I catch a cold every winter.
• I always put things off until the last minute.

…and dozens of other “truisms” that we just accept as part of our lives.

Most importantly, I’ve realized just how much the stories we tell direct the course of our lives — and how we can change our lives simply by changing our stories!

For instance, for many years I told stories about how badly I procrastinated: term papers, taxes, Christmas shopping,…you name it, I put it off until the last minute!

These stories seemed harmless enough (even comical, in retrospect)…until I noticed that they were seeping into many areas of my life:

• Emotions – Feeling frazzled, nervous, and stressed-out became the norm.
• Health – After years of stressful deadlines, my adrenals were pretty much shot!
• Relationship – How could I spend enough quality time with Jodi when I was always rushing from one deadline to another?
• Self-Esteem – Perhaps most importantly (and disturbingly), I started seeing myself as someone who could just barely get by, but never really get on top of things — not a complete failure, but certainly a far cry from the inspiring figure I was striving to be!

I pondered what would happen if I let this procrastination story continue indefinitely — and was forced to confront the prospect of a lifetime of stress and struggle.

This was NOT the story I wanted to tell…or live!

Fortunately, I realized that I could rewrite this story. (After all, I’d spent years in training as an author — why not apply these skills to my own life?) I could tell a different story — one about how I learned from the past, made a conscious decision to get on top of my life, and started completing my work in a timely, relaxed manner…while feeling great about myself!

This new story-in-the-making may not have any more literary merit than “The Procrastinator” (and I don’t expect to sell the film rights any time soon!), but it sure is a lot more fun (and relaxing) to live! The old story left me feeling stressed, trapped, and disempowered. The new one leaves me feeling lighter, stronger, more confident, and a whole lot happier…which is exactly the kind of life I want — for myself and for you!

If this sounds like the kind of shift you’d like to make in your own life, then there’s good news: YOU CAN REWRITE YOUR STORY!

And you can get started immediately by taking these four steps:

• Identify Your Story – Recognize which stories you keep retelling and reliving — how they’ve shown up in your life, how they’re controlling you, how they’re keeping you stuck, and why you want to break free of them!
• Release Your Story – Let go of old stories, labels, worldviews, and patterns that aren’t serving you — so that you can make room for those that do help you live your best life!
• Rewrite Your Story – Create a story that empowers you and reflects your highest self!
• Live Your Story – Reinforce the new story and make it a living, breathing part of your everyday life.

I hope you’ll join me in going through this process and creating a more empowering story — one that feels great to write and even better to live. One that has the happy ending (and middle and present) that I know you want and deserve!

…

What story of yours would you like to rewrite? What would the new, more empowered story look and feel like? How can you start writing and living this story today?

Thank you so much for being here, and I look forward to hearing all about your wonderful, empowering new stories! 🙂