Choose Your Own Adventure

So many people sit and watch the same movie play over and over. Nothing changing, nothing new. Its like watching that duck at the amusement park move across the back wall continuously being shot at, ducking over the edge and re-appearing on the other side just to do it over again, continuing the cycle. For those that have been there, and lets face it, many of us have at one point or another, maybe you're still there, there is a way to end this cycle. Remember that you know how it ends.

When I was a child I used to love the Choose Your Own Adventure Book Series. What an amazing concept. You would start reading the book and on certain pages, you would choose one of a few pages to go to next. What I loved most about these books, If I didn't like where the story was going, I would go back to a previous page with the options and choose a different path. Instead of going down a path I didn't like I would pick a new path.

My story was like many others, I wasn't happy. Can you imagine that. Not happy? I wasn't happy with where I had been, where I was at that moment, based on the movie that had been playing over in my head, wasn't happy with where I was going. My self destructive behavior wasn't helping either. The first thing I had to do was figure out why I wasn't happy. Often its a mixture of choices that got us to where we are, that we chose to bring us to and we were at, at that period of life. Okay, so we've done that. Well, what can you do. LIFE HAPPENED! We can't go back and change what has happened. Taking into account where I was and how I got there, I needed to think where did I want to be? Its called the A-HA! moment. That moment that you say to yourself, I don't want to be here, I know where here ends. I want a new ending.

A-HA! I WANT TO BE OVER THERE!!!! Was it that simple? Is it that simple? I can change the direction of my life? Knowing who you are, who you want to be and that the universe doesn't have it out for you. In fact, the universe has it IN for you. This is essential to your movie, your adventure.

Deciding to move into a new direction is not always an easy one. CHANGE YOUR LIFE!!! The first step to this often overused yet extremely profound statement is saying OUT LOUD that you want change. You need to know what the change is. You need to write down that change. Do you want to be financially sound? Be able to travel with the family? Be happy with where you work? Then do it! But how? You've said you want your life to change. Be SPECIFIC! A marathon runner sees that they want to cross the finish line. They plan for it, they train for it, they eat for it. They see themselves crossing the finish line. They can even see the time they finish it in and the people that will be their waiting for them. Basketball players visualize in their heads over and over again the free throw. They mentally prepare for what it will look like, how they will bend their knees, extend their arms and throw the ball. They picture it going through. They visualize the entire process of the free throw. Visualize and talk to yourself about what you want your life to be.

Become the director for your own movie. Success doesn't just happen. It takes planning and work. Plan out your movie. Look at where you are in life, where you want to be and go. CHANGE IT! At the end of the day, when you lie in bed, alone with your thoughts, it is just you. You are the one that you talk to all day. You are the one that will either cheer you on or shoot you down. What you tell yourself is what you are telling other people about you. When I was at my worst, the people I surrounded myself with weren't influencing me in a positive or negative way, I was! I was pressing play on the same movie, day in, day out. If you don't like who you are, neither will the people around you. Look to the finish line. Decide, plan, train. Know who you are, know what got you there, and know how you will get to the next chapter. This is your Choose Your Own Adventure. Press play on a new movie. The movie YOU want to see and not what others see.

You can learn more and connect with Matthew Taub and his partner and wife Felicia Taub at Banging Out a Better Balanced Life

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