When we change our narratives, releasing all our old stories, we transform. A Shutterstock Licensed Image.

It’s time to begin again! This time, create a plan and stick to it! You can always write a new story. If you do, commit to it. Let it lead you somewhere new.

Each of us projects ourselves into every story we hear and see. Each narrative we absorb satiates a unique part of our temporary self-identities, bringing to life a part of us that may have been dormant or undeveloped.

Narratives are potent and they can play out whether we are conscious of them or not. The ones that we most align with can be representative of our pain or our power.

Narratives play substantial roles in our lives. They can compound our apathy and confusion. Or they can help us expand and heal. Our most prized narratives have the power to dismantle our self-identities, rebuild us, and define us.

What is a narrative?

~ A story; a written account of connected events; portrait, tale or chronicle.

~ A moving vehicle, much like a train, with a set of rules and requirements.

~ Enabler of living, breathing, relatable characters that move within the train, while on the train.

~ Sometimes the characters steer the train, other times the train steers the characters.

~ Once you get inside that train, you’re committed to a journey that has a beginning and end.

~ Often involve commitments, loyalties, disagreements and treachery.

~ Brings to life a variety of emotions, some new, some deeply seeded in our cores.

~ They can change at any time.

We all love a good movie.

It turns out there’s a reason why: over time, storytelling in movies and television has crystalized to perfectly mirror how our lives tend to play out.

In each of our stories, there’s a hero, a villain, a goal, and drastic twists and turns. It turns out that when we’re pursuing a goal, our minds are set-up to expect upheaval. They’re also set-up to expect success. This is why Hollywood movies have two act-breaks.

The First Act-Break

The 30-minute mark is about when all that yummy, warm-fuzzy excitement in the first act bumps into a wall. The first act-break occurs moments after the love hits a peak. It’s when the problem or villain arrives.

The Second Act-Break

At the 60-minute mark, we seem to be winning, when all of a sudden a crisis emerges, and we lose everything. This is the second act-break. We can all relate with this structure, and it’s why we love movies.

When creating business plans, or plans to improve our personal lives and relationships, it’s easy to give up on ourselves. We’ll happily forsake a more vibrant future if we can avoid confrontation and changes to our routines.

Rather than confront and change our patterns directly, we’d rather build co-dependent relationships with our loved ones, our businesses, and our goals. We want to adore them, but we also want to control them. This makes it very difficult to change our stories and improve ourselves, and transform our relationships. We’re just a tad addicted to the self-identity we’ve created and defended for so long.

If we can rewrite our narrative, the journey from here to there, and map out the act-breaks and strategies that could bring that narrative to life, we can change our lives. By creating and then becoming a lead character in our new story, we will naturally fall in with his or her journey.

By stepping into these inspired characters’ shoes, we begin to create energetic vessels that are built specifically to attract success in our three-dimensional physical realities.

If we can remain detached from our former self-identities and stay out of fear, we can be victorious.

Many of us find it difficult to change. We declare a new goal, make plans, and we might even enroll someone to help us. But when it comes down to making the hard choices and fully committing to the new narrative and self-identity, we’re unwilling. We find it too egoistically challenging to release our prior self-identities and venture into a new story. We regress into our old shite, rather than tunnel toward the new light that awaits us.

When we rewrite the rules, stories, and strategies related to how we work, live, and behave, we can become completely new. It’s not rocket science. It’s a fact. As long as our goals and plans reflect parts of our core attributes, we can become new.

If you’re hoping

to make some changes in your life,

write the narrative first.

Write a short story of how you want things to play out.

If you’re running a business, map out where that business needs to go. Create a strategic plan. Keep your self-protective reactive-mind in check. Write out every step of the plan, as if it were a Hollywood movie.

If you’re looking to have a personal rebirth, map out the journey. Write down every change you want to make, and every joy you want to attract to your life. Write it out as if a Hollywood movie depended on it. It’s your script!

Allow your self-identity to be rejuvenated with a new, relatable, and inspiring narrative.

Become the lead character!

Establish a story that takes you from here to a new horizon.

This is how heroes and warriors have achieved success for centuries.

1. They decide what they want.

2. They decide where they’re going.

3. They declare who is going with them.

4. They create their plans and GO!

Now, YOU! Answer these questions:

1. What do you want?

2. Where are you going?

3. Who is going with you?

4. What is your plan?

5. What is your timeline?

You can do this!

One more thing, sometimes you can’t listen to your heart. While minds can be traps, hearts can be needy, fucked-up, and wrong, always seeking nurturance and connection.

No, you do not always need nurturing and connection.

Sometimes you just need to get over yourself, make some solid decisions, map out a realistic plan, commit to it, GET THE SHOW ON THE ROAD!