The Decisions We Make

Hair! Fall 2016

I love stories, to learn new things, watch movies and find ways everyday to become more of what God wants for me while I am walking this earth. I recently heard the term “Growth Junkie” and I think this fits me perfectly. Unfortunately for me I also tend to want to make emotionally based decisions which means that I want to buy every new book that comes out (in the genre I am interested in) attend every conference and buy into every new program/workshop/class that is offered. If I bought it all we would be in the poor house so I have refrained and held myself in check so the kids don’t wonder why mommy is jetting off to some self improvement conference while they have no shoes.

Over the last year and a half the idea of story and my life being a story has been a theme that continues to come up over and over again. Mr. Wonderful and I are working our way through Donald Miller’s Storybranding online course which uses the framework of story to market your business. I am loving it because I get it and it makes me excited to find an interesting way to let people know how we can help to make their lives better.

Andy Stanley recently did a series on his podcast about making better decisions. The series was in four parts but the overall theme was that every decision you make becomes part of the story of your life as well as the stories of those walking though life with you. This then invites the question, “What story do you want your life to tell?” Andy’s contention was that, “You are where you are because of decisions you have made”… Your biggest regrets in life more than likely stem from a decision you have made and most often in an emotional state. Whether that be a relationship choice, dating/marrying the guy/girl that everyone said was no good for you or maybe its a purchasing decision, house/car/shoes/clothes anything that was out of your range that once purchased inflicted pain in your life. There are all kinds of decisions to be made in life, where are you going to live? Where are you going to work? Are you going to have that third glass of wine?

Decisions can have generational effects. My parents moved from Oklahoma to Oregon when my older sister was a toddler. As a result I have spent most of my life in the Pacific Northwest and I am in turn raising my kids here as well. Their decision 48 years ago is part of my story. Not that I eventually didn’t have a say in where I would live. When I was 15 my parents decided to move to San Diego and when I was 24 I decided to move back to Oregon. None of these particular decisions were good or bad they were just decisions. But they are definitely telling the story of my life

In light of wanting to tell a better story I made a change recently that has transformed my view of myself. My post chemo hair grow out was starting to make me a bit depressed as its very thin and limp. My bangs were okay, I just want them to grow a bit more but the rest of the hair was really not looking so great. So I looked up a bunch of cute pixie cuts on Pinterest and took the pictures in to my hairdresser and cut my hair in a style that I really like. In my heart I went immediately from “cancer girl growing out her hair” to “fun 46 year old with a cute pixie cut!” It’s amazing what making a decision about hair has done for my perspective. My story feels a lot less depressing now that I feel cute and as we all know by now cute is always the goal.

What story are your decisions telling? Are you going to look back at this season of your life and wish you had made a different decision? Sometimes life happens to us and sometimes life happens because of us. I want all of my decisions no matter how small, to tell a great story.

Have a great day my friends!