The Story we Write

It's that time of year when many people seem to get a bit a reflective. Looking back at the year that's drawing to a close, and then looking forward to the year that is to come. The turning of the calendar page to a new year prompts that.

It always prompts a couple of key questions for me:

• What kind of a story did I write with my life in 2016?
• What kind of a story do I want to write with my life in 2017?

Obviously, we can't control some of the events that have happened or will happen. We can't control things other people say or do. There's so much that we can't control.

But, we do have one thing we can control, and that is where we determine the story we write with our lives. We can choose how we respond. We can choose what we do with what happens and what we do with what other people say or do.

Our choices are the story we write with our lives. Our choices are the ways we will be remembered by those around us.

When life has knocked us down  - whether an event or something someone else does or says - we have a choice. We can choose to stay face-down and refuse to get up. Or we choose to do the hard work of getting back up - of learning from what has happened and why we reacted the way we did, so we can grow from it and hopefully respond differently the next time.

So, as 2016 comes to a close and we turn the calendar page to 2017, these questions might be good ones to reflect on it:

What kind of a story did I write with my life in 2016?

What kind of a story do I want to write with my life in 2017?