Rewrite Your Story

One of my favorite musicals is Martin Guerre. The musical takes place during the Holy Wars in France and tells the story of Martin Guerre. At a young age, Martin is forced to marry a woman he barely knows.  He feels the pressure from the entire village as they want him to conceive a child.  He is ridiculed and physically abused by the villagers.  Martin has had enough and decides to leave the village only to return several years later.  But is he really Martin Guerre? Who is this man? Is he an impostor?

As with most musicals, Martin gets one big solo number for Martin Guerre - the title song!  The song is all about Martin's desire to escape from the life he has.  He is tired of the insults and feels he needs to become the man he always wanted to be.  He doesn't like the story that has been written for him, so he decides to write his own story.  He declares that one day he will return as the man they will all respect, love and admire.  He will do this on his own terms, not theirs.  

Martin was able to hold onto himself. Even with all that pain and suffering, he kept his strength, courage and resilience.  

Strength.  Courage.  Resilience.  

This is the cornerstone of our self-worth.  These three attributes are the reasons why some people are able to move forward in life instead of backwards.  When we are faced with negative emotions such as pain, suffering, and fear, we lose touch with our inner coach, that inner voice that encourages us.  Instead we listen and become our worst inner critic.  From an early age we can become conditioned to believe negative traits about us.  We believe in our own failings as people and feel we can't overcome them.  We start to catastrophize the outcomes our lives.  We start to write that story.  This leads us to failure and stops us from being successful.  We believe these stories even though we know them to be true.  

And so to build our resilience back, to reclaim our courage and our strength, we must once again become the narrators to our own stories.  We must re-write the narrative that was told to us all these years.  We know ourselves better than anyone else, and we if have the ability to be negative then we also have the ability to be positive!  We can't forget that this has always been and will always be in our control.  

What story are you going to tell?