Tag: story

you are the author of your life, so what’s next?

I’ve recently been thinking about writing short stories, and I also recently wrote about eating cookies to make your day better, and I combined those thoughts for the perspective of how you are the author of your own life.

Imagine your life as a story — which it is, except no one is writing it all down. Humans have used stories to remember history for as long as there has been history. You summarize your day into stories based on expectations and your worldview, some of it subconsciously, but it happens.

Now consider your day, maybe it’s a less-than-pleasant day. You wouldn’t think of it in short story form, but for the sake of this exercise, let’s try it:

Burford was late to work due to bad drivers and a traffic jam, and his boss gave him a glare as he walked in, so he wondered if that will affect his reputation and future raises. His boss doesn’t seem to recognize his value to the company. He did his daily work the best he could, but got sleepy in the afternoon because he didn’t get enough sleep last night. His lunch was boring. Leaving work, he was frustrated because there’s so much to do and there’s simply not enough time for it all. He sighed as he got into his old car that he would like to replace but can’t afford to. He was glad that work was through, but not excited about the rest of the evening.

It hasn’t been a great day for poor Burford. But what happens next? Does he let the rest of the day be “blah” or frustrating? Or does he change the script? What happens next hasn’t been written yet. There might be some required activities to do later, but what can he do to make his day better?

So many of us get into a routine with our daily habits and just let life happen to us. But you are the author of your life. What can you do to make your day better? Eat cookies. Drink sweet tea. Get outside to walk or play a sport. Listen to your favorite songs. Read something funny. (You could subscribe to this blog if you haven’t already). 🙂 Sit down to do absolutely nothing for a few minutes to clear your mind and relax. Text a friend who is funny and/or encouraging. Listen to a podcast about self-improvement. Pray. Whatever it is, there are options you can do to make your day better. And wherever you are right now, you get to write the rest of today’s chapter. What will happen?

Being outdoors in nature helps. Studies have shown that even just a couple of breaks in nature per week affects your mood the whole week. Take some time to be alone with your thoughts and be present where you are, with no distractions. Ignore your phone for 30 minutes.

I have a dinosaur in my backyard

It’s true! I saw a real-life living dinosaur, and it was starting to build a nest where I didn’t want one, so I confronted it and scared it away! I battled a dinosaur and lived to tell the tale! Afterward, it glared at me in seething anger, but I glared back, and it chose to retreat to the neighbor’s yard, so I let it go. I actually defeated a dinosaur! (Yeah, there’s a lot of things you don’t know about me!)

This isn’t my backyard. It would be neat if it was, but mine is somewhat less dramatic, with much smaller dinosaurs. Mine also has considerably less mountains.

So how can I say this and claim it’s true? Do you think this is some embellished memoir? Well, according to some scientist, it’s true. Check this quote out:

“Today’s birds evolved from dinosaurs, which makes them every bit as much of a dinosaur as T. rex or Triceratops.” ~ Steve Brusatte, paleontologist

I suppose someone could make that argument, but it still sounds silly. Granted, I’m no paleontologist nor an ornithologist, so I didn’t have any voice in debating what to call them. But still, I have a voice, and I’m writing in my corner of the internet on a blog that’s had over a million pageviews, so I have some reach, and I’ll share my opinion anyway. (Always glad to share my ignorance. I’ve got plenty.) Maybe it would be better to just say modern birds descended from dinosaurs. (I still don’t know that that’s true, but it sounds better.) It just sounds wrong to say that I have dinosaurs in my backyard… And it takes away from the mystique of dinosaurs.

But if you want to play along with that thinking, you can tell people you have a dinosaur in your backyard. Or that you’re stronger than a dinosaur. Or that you’ve killed a dinosaur. Or that you’ve eaten a dinosaur. It could be a fun conversation piece. Try it (with people who appreciate humor).

tempted with jealousy

Somebody did me wrong today.  They didn’t mean to, so I won’t hold it against them, but it just wasn’t right.  My story begins like many others: I was minding my own business, mowing my yard.  I was trying to get my lawn mowed before the rain came.  My wife was inside cooking supper.  Since we’re trying to lose weight, we’ve been eating healthy meals more than we used to.  She was baking some Cajun-seasoned fish and frying some fresh vegetables (squash, okra, and tomatoes) with Creole seasoning and olive oil.  It’s not a bad meal, even for a meat-and-taters guy like myself.  But while I was mowing, one of my neighbors decided to grill burgers, and the wonderful aroma wafted into my yard.

It really doesn’t matter that I was about to eat fish and vegetables — just about any meal is trumped by home-grilled burgers.  So I found that to be quite rude of them.  I’m outside dripping with sweat from mowing in the crazy heat-and-humidity mixture here in Arkansas, and they’re making me jealous with their grilling.

So if you find yourself in the situation of the person grilling while your neighbor is mowing his yard, it would be incredibly awesome if you were to offer him a burger or hot dog off the grill.  That would make their day, and it would certainly make the rest of the mowing not so laborious.  I’m just sayin’…  🙂

caption contest, giant digging machine

This photo for this week’s caption contest features a giant digging machine.  It’s a little different in that people don’t play a prominent role in this photo.  But nonetheless there are many humorous captions that can be applied here.  The trick is to use your imagination and create context for it.  Write your own background for the story if necessary.  Or find a way to tie it into an existing news story or movie.

giant digging machine

(To see the other caption contests, click on the “Say What?” category in the sidebar.)