Plot Twist!
Jul 13, 2016
Life is rarely linear and often has no interest in following whatever script we’ve written out for ourselves. I know for dead-certain that I didn’t plan to get cancer (or that scary heart virus, or those car accidents, or . . . ), but it happened because sometimes life happens to us.
You know what’s really cool, though? We get to choose how we respond. Every time life throws something awful at us, we can suffer or we can deal with it. Totally up to us.
When I was going through cancer treatment, I didn’t actually think I was going to die. The first thing my oncologist said to me was “We’re going to blast this out of you – you’re going to be fine!” I completely believed him and because of his words, I was able to easily choose optimism rather than despair. I was so positive that this was just a hurdle to get over to get to the rest of my life, it didn’t occur to me to be worried. It wasn’t until he told me the odds after my treatment successfully ended that I realized things were much more serious than I thought. I was absolutely shocked, and grateful that he hadn’t told me earlier.
While we can’t always choose what happens, we can always decide how we’ll respond, and how we’ll tell our story.
A few years ago, I read an article that Martha Beck wrote. She told the story of Annette, who was in a terrible car accident: while driving through an intersection, a driver high on drugs ran the red light, slammed into Annette’s car, sent her rolling off the road and into the hospital. Like many of us, Annette suffered from anxiety, especially about dying. Interestingly enough, this accident completely changed her perspective: her life was threatened, but she didn’t die. Her worst fear didn’t come true, even when the worst thing happened to her. So instead of telling the story as I wrote it, Annette decided to say that she came to a crossroad, met Jesus (the driver’s name was Jesús) and lost her fear of death. Annette yelled “Plot twist!” and moved on, making things better for herself in the process.
PLOT TWIST! Say it loud, say it proud.
