Story-Tellers + Happy Monday

"Once you live a good story, you get a taste for a kind of meaning of life, and you can't go back to being normal; you can't go back to the meaningless scenes stitched together by the forgettable thread of wasted time."

-Donald Miller

With the wise referral of my roommate Ann Clark, I started reading A Million Miles in a Thousand Years by Donald Miller. And wow.  Ok ok, I will go ahead and admit I am a chronic self-helper. I love a good make-yourself-better-in-one-way-or-another type of read. And it's not because I'm unsatisfied with myself because, well, I'm just not. No, it is more or less my belief that if we stop striving to become something better, then we aren't fulfilling our life's intention. That comes in the form of relationships, health, positive thinking, goals, ambitions, Christianity, you name it. So here I am reading this amazing book and the veil was just lifted.

Donald Miller believes we live our lives in stories- that God puts certain situations out there for us that we can choose to accept or choose to ignore. He discusses how we are all characters in our lives, and that characters in a story always have a goal, and fight the odds for something they deem important enough to take on the challenge and conquer the goal. Sounds like a movie right? Well, it can be our lives. To live a good story, we have to find it. We have to pursue whole-heartedly ambitions and goals that well help us to grow into characters that will fight for what they want, defy the odds and take the prize. 

So many times we settle for what is normal and comfortable- it is human nature to want to surround yourself with that. But what would happen if we all kept pushing, pursuing, making a difference, chasing dreams, trying harder, checking off the bucket list? Like ole Don says, if you surround yourself with only people with lame stories, you're probably going to live a lame story. But if you surround yourself with some real story-tellers, real people who are making a difference, striving, creating ambition, you're going to do the same. And once you do that, once you start weaving together this exciting story that He intended each of us to play the main character in, you just get it.

I really need to amp up my story. Here I am, just getting life started, all fresh-faced and fancy free, and its time to play a part in a few good stories. I don't think I'll save the world or find the cure for cancer. But living with an unabashed desire for a fulfilling life seems like a pretty good story to initially partake in. And, if what Don says is true, my desire for greater stories will grow and grow until life is taken over by one good story after the next.

What a nice idea.

P.S- Happy Monday! A few links to start your week off right:
~Very excited about the launch of online design RUE magazine here.
~A great article for staying healthy on the go (which aren't we all always?) here
~VIE Magazine (my home this summer in case you missed that) is giving away a new Jeep Wrangler and splitting proceeds between four charities. Enter here!
~ Dakota Fanning's all grown up and this transformation tracker is a fun blast from the past for the cutie turned beauty star.