I keep coming back to this quote. Not because it's profound in an abstract way, but because it's uncomfortably true in a practical way.
What you say to yourself is what directs and creates the movie that plays in your mind.
Think about it. You can direct and play whatever type of movie you want; action, comedy, romance, horror, adventure, thriller. The genre is up to you. The soundtrack. The lens through which you view each scene.
But here's the catch: You don't get to choose how the events in your movie unfold.
You can't control the plot twists. You can't rewrite the difficult scenes or fast-forward through the painful ones. Life delivers the events. You're not the screenwriter.
So if you can't control how the events unfold, how can you control how the movie plays out.
Here's food for thought. The same event can be framed as:
- A tragic ending or the beginning of a comeback story
- A failure or a lesson learned
- Evidence of your inadequacy or proof of your courage to try
And if you've been unconsciously directing a horror film or a tragedy about your own life, you have the power to change the lens. I realized I'd been directing an action/drama/disaster movie about my life; every small mistake became evidence if inevitable failure, every setback the beginning of collapse. The soundtrack in my head had layers of doom and gloom.
It's about asking yourself:
- What story am I telling myself about this?
- Is this the only way to interpret what happened?
- If my best friend experienced this, what would I tell them?
- What would a compassionate narrator say about this character's journey?
Questions for You
What movie have you been directing in your mind? Is it one you'd want to watch?
When something difficult happens, what's your go-to narrative? Do you cast yourself as the victim, the hero, the fool, the survivor?
And here's the real question: If you could redirect just one scene from your recent life, what story would you tell about it instead?
Not to erase what happened, but to change how you're letting it define you.
You are the director. The camera is already rolling. What kind of movie are you making?