Ten Things I’ve Learned – Becoming The Hero Of Your Own Story

Have you ever sat in a movie theatre, watching acts of heroism and larger than life situations, and thought to yourself ‘I don’t measure up to this?’ Well, first of all you shouldn’t be so hard on yourself. Despite Thor’s strength and his ability to save the day, he still has character flaws, and you weren’t blessed being born as the son of Odin. However, there is something to that initial drive to compare ourselves to others. It’s not a healthy thing to do, but it can often make it quite clear if we’re on the right course or not. After all, the converse is true. We see someone often struggling with terrible life decisions and are grateful that we haven’t experienced this yet.

Is there something to learn from the inner voice that gives us these little impressions? Are there healthier ways to relate to them? Absolutely. To begin with, seeing yourself as the hero of your OWN story can work wonders. This is hard to overstate, but can feel a little odd to people who aren’t familiar with the idea. Here are some tips to help you on that journey:

1. Compare yourself to yourself. When all is said and done, you only have the ability to control what you are doing. This means that understanding that you are the protagonist of your own life will help you avoid unhealthy comparisons to others. After all, someone in your shoes would have likely lived the same way you did. Otherwise, it wouldn’t have been you. That doesn’t mean you can’t improve, just that you should judge the merit of your current actions only in comparison to your past actions. This helps you orient yourself and raise yourself necessarily, with a true and worthwhile guiding principle.
2. Say ‘yes’ to life. Saying yes to all that life is can be hard to do. We all have our vices and small issues to help us escape from reality for a while. For some, that might be video games. For others,  it might be a drink at the weekend. However, saying yes to life and staying willing to experience it can help us belong to our present, and allows us to function much better within it. This might mean focusing on a present situation that might not be ideal, and taking efforts to combat this, such as heading to an addiction treatment centre. Saying yes to life is one of the most heroic things you can do, because it means going out of your comfort zone to better yourself.

3. Take risks. There’s no fun in being the hero of your own story if you’re not a hero. We can’t change our physical abilities or circumstances to become actual superheroes. And we all know our bodies are composed of atoms and elements, but that isn’t functionally practical to our daily lives from a behavioral and cognitive standpoint. This means that valuing the story of your life is better than almost every method of living it.

The world is filled with stories and myths that affect us on a behavioural level, so why not take control over the stories told about you? Why not take that risk? Why not talk to that person you have your eye on? Why not seek adventure? Taking risks allows your personal story to grow, and when you think like this you actually become more able to functionally experience it.

When you put all this into practice, you’ll notice that your self-worth increases over time. Becoming the hero of your own story takes time, patience and discipline, but it’s always worth it. So go for it!