other people’s stories

I just finished reading a blog by a girl (named Sarah) who lives in Amsterdam. She has been blogging since August about her weightloss journey and she is an excellent writer! She’s full of wit and humor and she captures her thoughts with such clever phrases. Anyway, I’m facinated with Europe and learning about other people’s lives and weightloss stories, so her blog was right up my alley!

There is so much power in our individual stories. So often we are embarassed or ashamed to share our experiences, when we should be open and vulnerable so that others can learn from them. If we struggle or even stumble but get back up and dust ourselves off while holding onto a positive attitude, it shows courage and gives hope to others who may also be struggling or stumbling.

So often we live with what Donald Miller refers to as a “lifeboat mentality”. You know that old story about if a lawyer, a pregnant woman, a child and an old man were all in the boat and you could only save one who would it be? Basically it forces us to rank people’s importance. We go through our lives with this “lifeboat mentality” thinking that so-and-so is more important than I am because he or she has this thing or has accomplished that thing or knows that person. We rank ourselves compared to each of our friends and maybe even our enemies. We are always trying to figure out who is better or more important or more successful, or more popular, etc.

We need to stop and realize that no matter who we are, we are all on a level playing field. Bill Gates has stinky poop just like we do! Billy Graham makes mistakes just like we do! Oprah Winfrey has bad days! Rachel Ray burns things!

Let’s start being open about where we come from, where we really are and where we want to go.