Design Your Life from Within, Not from Others' Blueprints
Every morning, you open your eyes to a blank page. Each decision, each action, and every thought writes another line in your story. But here's the BIG life question: Are you consciously writing your story, or are you letting others hold the pen?
Your Current Story: Who's Really Writing It?
Take a moment. Close your eyes. What story are you living right now? Is it one that lights you up with purpose and curiosity, or does it feel like you're reading from a script someone else wrote?
Many of us are living stories we inherited - narratives shaped by family expectations, societal pressures, or the echoes of past experiences. We play roles assigned to us by default and others play roles created by others - as in mimicking the lives of others because they cannot seem to figure out what they want or who they can become. But remember this: inherited stories can be rewritten. Default narratives can be reimagined and old thought patterns can be rewired.
Claiming the Author's Chair
An authentic life isn't stumbled upon, it is created. It is chosen. It's written. And nurtured and tweaked over a lifetime. The truth lies at the heart of becoming the author of your own story.
There's a profound difference between being a character in someone else's story and being the author of your own. Authors have agency. They make choices. They create possibilities. They create from within vs looking for external validations or "borrowing" ideas from others.
Think about the most inspiring people you know. They didn't stumble into their creative journey or success stories - they wrote them, intentionally and purposefully. They faced the same blank pages, or similar mess you do. They designed their lives.
It's easy to get frustrated or down, but as soon as we look back we see how far we've come - we recommit to our creation. Do you remember when you wished for the life - the love, the child, the job, or the home you have now?
Your story so far has brought you to this moment. But from here? You can get more intentional and take more authorship in your story.
Life doesn't happen to us - circumstances do, but our choices are writing the scenes on how we respond to life. Do you react to life or are you intentionally creating alongside its challenges?
Writing Your Next Chapters
A beautiful life is created from the heart, not the head. We can't rationalize our way into a certain life - we dream it and design it. Every compelling story has a clear direction - a character arc that moves purposefully toward transformation. What's yours?
Ask yourself:
Who am I becoming?
Describe in detail, in growth - what does your everyday life reflect back to you?
What are the big steps I am ready to take?
Write down your one most important goal and three steps that get you closer to it.
How do I want to feel everyday?
Write it down, and be clear on two-three aspects you can begin to feel before it's here.
This isn't about writing a perfect story - it's about redesigning your authentic life. Your character development might include failures, setbacks, and plot twists. The most powerful stories embrace triumph and challenge, love and heartbreak, failure and celebrations.
The Power of Full Commitment
Here's a truth that might sting: Half-hearted commitments create half-finished stories, or half-lived lives.
An authentic life is not one that is immediately comfortable, but it's intentional and it's clear who the author is. And authentic life is not one that is easy, it is one that is worth it.
You can't write a breakthrough story with backup-plan energy. You can't create an extraordinary narrative while keeping one eye copying others. Commitment means fully stepping into your story - creating it from within your heart and owning it, living it, breathing it.
This means:
- Making decisions that align with your story's direction
- Taking actions that move your plot forward
- Surrounding yourself with characters who strengthen your narrative
- Watching your thoughts like it's a fragile baby (they create reality whether you want to or not)
- Nurturing your nervous system through breath - taking you back to parasympathetic nervous system over and over again, that's where love vibration lives
Your Story Starts Now
The pen is in your hand - edit out what's not your story. And write your own.
Remember: This isn't about creating a perfect narrative. It's about crafting an authentic one that reflects who you truly are and who you're becoming. It's about making conscious choices that align with your values, vision, knowledge, goals and taste.
Your story is waiting to be written - stop worrying about what others are doing or what they think of you - write your script. Pick up the pen. Commit to your story. Make it thoughtful and kind for yourself. Write it true. Write it yours.
Because in the end, the only story you'll regret is the one you were too afraid to write.
Xo
ARP.