One of my favourite things to do is to walk up to my nearby lookout and look down at my home, framed by the sprawling city and ocean beyond. It makes me feel empowered. I can conquer anything. I am on top of the world. I will get through my To Do List.
That invigorating feeling makes me think of how I view life story writing. Many people say, “Argh! How could I possibly write my life story? I don’t know where to start! It is just too massive to even contemplate!” Because I view your story from a distance, from above, I can tackle it and craft it, like a beautiful gift tied with a bow. I can see the forest for the trees.
When you’re in the middle of the forest, it’s easy to get disoriented. Take the blog I wrote last year, on August 17th. I was in the middle of 2020, looking ahead to when the Covid-19 vaccination would be discovered and imagining us all dancing in the streets.
Move on to today and many different vaccinations have been developed, but we haven’t cranked up the music yet. Vaccination rollouts have been slow and developing countries have been falling far behind, spiking moral outrage and a call for global vaccine equity.
Years from now we will be able to wrap the Covid-19 story up with a neat little bow. Just like me standing at my lookout, and me recording peoples’ life stories, by then we will have distance and perspective. Let’s look forward to telling a happy story.