Choose Your Own Story
The Medium editor glows brightly on in my browser. The text cursor flickers with a patient rhyme.
“Tell your story…”, Medium suggests cheerfully.
I’m stumped if I’m going to be completely honest with you. The words race incessantly through my brain, but none of them with the coherence that I want. Crave.
I shake my head, ‘Okay,” I tell myself, “Enough of this.”
I place my hands on the keyboard, poised for action.
Here.We.Go.
I guess like all good stories, I should start at the very beginning and maybe give a little background as to who I am and what I want to achieve.
Humble Beginnings
I’ve been writing in a non-professional capacity for most of my life. Think: Journals, school essays, the occasional fan-fiction (no jokes).
Written words are forever
I find that words speak to me louder than spoken words ever could. It’s in words that we find the collective consciousness of our species stored in little squiggly lines on a page or screen. Words spoken are often forgotten, but written words are forever.
My name is Adam, I’m a twenty-something QA Engineer from South Africa.
And I’m having a quarter-life crisis. Go figure.
Now don’t get me wrong; I’m in good shape physically and mentally, I have a good job, a car, clothes on my back and a roof over my head. I’m in a loving relationship with a wonderful, inspiring woman and I’m not a raving lunatic (that I’m aware of). So far, everything looks good on paper (pun intended).
But you see…there’s something missing from my life. Some critical aspect of an otherwise happy, if average existence.
Is it happiness? — that elusive and temporal state of mind where the sun seems to shine a little bit brighter and the grass smells a little crisper? — No, that’s not it.
Is it contentment? — that more concrete state of being, of joyful growth and sense of self? — Hmm, not quite but getting warmer.
Is it purpose? Meaning? Self-actualization through higher calling? — Yeah maybe but that’s still not quite right.
Is it adventure? — that intoxicating combination of purpose, drive, motivation and action — all mixed up together? — Bingo!
Ain’t no fairy tales here
Adventure calls to me. And I don’t necessarily mean adventure in the sense you might be thinking about. When I say adventure, I don’t mean parachuting out of an aeroplane with an angry monkey strapped to my back while gunning down Nazi-space aliens with an AK-47 (although that does sound pretty epic).
When I say adventure, I mean it in the dictionary definition of the word.
Adventure (noun.)
1. an exciting or very unusual experience.
2. participation in exciting undertakings or enterprises:
the spirit of adventure.
3. a bold, usually risky undertaking; hazardous action of uncertain outcome.
In particular, I like the 3rd interpretation the most because it best captures the situation I currently find myself in.
See, I want to live a life of adventure.
One where I can experience all that is there to be experienced in life on a magnified scale.
I want to live fully and completely and to be able to convey that same excitement, that spirit of adventure through the written word.
You see, I love biographies.
It’s my favourite genre of writing due to the fact that it gives us unique insight into the life and times of another person. There’s incredible power in being able to peek, even just for a moment, into the psyche of another living being on this planet.
Their successes, failures, highs, lows, doubts, triumphs… everything laid out bare for our scrutiny and perusal.
There’s an incredible wellspring of knowledge to be found in the lives of others and I can’t recommend reading biographies (autobiographies are even better) highly enough.
If you’re not sure where to start, take stock of the men and women you admire current and in the past. A simple google search ought to set you on the right path.
I plan to write more about the lives and lessons learned from my heroes in upcoming posts (get amped for those!).
Writing is the act of giving yourself permission
So what do biographies have to do with writing and specifically, what do they have to do with living a life of adventure?
The lives of your heroes should inspire you to live YOUR greatest life. A life of adventure, a life of success and triumph, and perhaps, more importantly, a life of failures, a life of overcoming obstacles and building yourself back up.
Writing your life gives you a sense of agency and direction.
- When you’re writing the story, you dictate the path you choose to lead, sure you don’t have full control over the outcome or how your character gets from A to B but you do set the direction and give yourself permission to chase your dreams.
Writing your life, your adventure is an act of giving yourself permission.
- Permission to succeed, to fail, to learn and to grow that is probably the most important gift you can give yourself.
Writing, whether it be journaling about your day, writing a novel, writing a blog post, writing out the outlines for your perfect day, or simply writing out your to-do list:
- Is to metaphorically sign that permission slip every day; to open up a space where you are free to explore who you are who you want to become.
Now that’s powerful.
The challenge
I am undertaking 30 days of writing in order to establish and lay the foundations for the heroic being of my adventure (me). Through the act of writing, the act of building the requisite skills and discipline to build a daily habit of exploring myself and the world through the art of writing.
Are you in for the journey? Are you ready to make writing a part of your life?
Start today with just 250 words — if that’s too much — then start with 100 words…or 50.
- What you write about is not important, what is important is that you start.
Journal it. Blog it. Write it down on good old fashioned paper.
- The tools you use are not important. Whether you make it public or keep it private is completely up to you.
Commit to minimum of 30 days.
- Like all good adventures, this will require some work, a little effort and perseverance. But the outcome will be worth it in the end.
Are you ready to start living?
Are you ready to start writing your life?
