When we buy a book something draws us in. Maybe the author, maybe the characters, maybe the plot, maybe the picture or strap line on the front, maybe the synopsis on the back of the dust jacket?

If your life was a book, what would the dust jacket say?

Our life story is in every sense just that … a story. With a beginning, middle and end. Complex relationships between the characters, plots that twist and turn, some with jaw dropping surprise, some with addictive page turning attention. Sub plots that weave a tangled web of every emotion.

Yet we are the author, not just the actor.

We have choice. We can guide the story to fit the character and evolve the character through the experience of the story.

As authors, we can paint the picture of our lead character. Their background, context, journey. We can afford them the interactions, relationships, challenges and successes we choose. These build depth and richness and create a bond with the reader.

As authors we can also create the plot. Like any well crafted novel, we can know where the story takes us. How each part builds to the whole. We can decide the ending. We can give the story a purpose. We can draw the reader in, engage them, delight them, surprise them.

Life is like this.

Purpose and meaning provide a context for who we are – the reason for our story, the reason we are here. Our sense of self, our origins, our futures, what we value, how we behave, how we come to the world and our map of that world – these things shape us as a human being in this narrative of humanity.

So what does it say on your dust jacket?

Is the story the life you want?
Are you even in your own story, or are you simply playing a bit part?
Have you got a sense of where the plot is going?

If not, there are still chapters to be written.

Change it.