Editing Your Script

So, I was having this crazy conversation with some friends one evening about this weird hang-up that I have. It’s a silly little thing – I even understand it’s trivial in my head – but I just can’t seem to plow past it. Which is kind of odd for me, because I am a bit of a “pick-myself-up-by-my-boot-straps-and-get-shit-done“ kind of gal. I don’t often let something so petty and ridiculous dictate the outcome for me.

But lately I have been doing this a lot. I’ve been renting space inside my head to some pretty crappy writers.

You see, I believe that our lives are what you write them to be. We are basically the author of our own story. We design the sets and costumes and characters. We choose certain people to play certain roles based on our interactions or assumptions about them. We choose the places to live out our story and the ways in which we dance through it.

But recently I have forgotten a really, really important fact about my life: I am the writer, director and the lead in my own story, and therefore I have first right of refusal for the shit that stays and I get rewrites at any point.

Editing the Script of Your Life

One of the cool things about being a writer is I can change anything I don’t like, at literally any point. I can decide that I prefer the word “genuflect” over “bow” and with a flick of my wrist that three letter generic verb is reborn as the mysterious and alluring “genuflect.” I can go back to the top and change the word silly to trivial and you wouldn’t know unless I told you just now!

I get to decide who enters the story and what they bring with them. And I get to decide who leaves and what they take with them. I get to decide what stays in the story I carry around with me. That’s right – I get to decide the baggage I carry around.

At any point I can stand up and say, “This isn’t working any more….” and I can change it. I can start again. I can untwist a plot twist. I can even write out a character – because I am in control here!

I don’t have to stand around and bitch and moan about how things are playing out. I am not a helpless character in someone else’s plot. I am the chronicler of my own saga.

This is a beautifully liberating realization. I don’t need to be a victim or a hero. No one is forcing me to keep going or to quit. I have the choice!

And let me tell you, choice is wonderful.

When I am writing and I choose a word that doesn’t serve me, I don’t agonize for hours about removing it and picking another. Nope, I strike it from the record and move on. There’s no Pomp and Circumstance required…just the simple changing of the story.

So what in your life isn’t serving you today? Is your hang-up a person, place or thing?! Why not change it now?! Because guess what, you get first right of refusal for your shit and you get rewrites, too!

Don’t let one word of your story sit awkwardly in place for a moment longer. Stop renting space to the doubters and the nay-sayers. Grab that script and start making changes, sister, because we’ve got some living to do!

Dee Robb

Married to Shane for 8 years and mom to 6 year old Rhett, Dee has owned her own financial services business for the past 8 years, with 15 years in the industry. She has a passion for travel and adventure! Dee runs a small, grassroots group that provides volunteer opportunities to familes and children - including an annual 40 Days of Giving Back event, where, for the period of Lent, families commit to giving back to their communities instead of giving something up.

Latest posts by Dee Robb (see all)