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Writer's pictureJimmy Rex

Be The Hero Of Your Own Life Story

Every year around the beginning of July, I love to sit down and watch a movie or two about freedom, independence, and the founding fathers. Other movies that come up are “Shawshank Redemption” and “Braveheart”. We love these movies because in some way we feel like we can relate to the main character. Usually they have been thrown into some circumstance outside of their control yet through much effort and grit they eventually overcome their terrible conditions and triumph in the end. 


This is the story of Shawshank Redemption when Andy Dufresne gets thrown in jail for killing his wife and her lover. We find out as the movie goes on that Andy is innocent. The rest of the movie is spent hoping that something, anything good will happen to Andy. That is what makes the ending so spectacular when he finally crawls through 500 yards of shit to come out clean on the other side.


Braveheart follows a similar storyline. William Wallace played by Mel Gibson just wants peace and to raise a family. But when the magistrate finds out that he wed in a private ceremony so that he wouldn’t have to share his wife, they seek her out and kill her. He is put in a position where he must fight and earn back his freedom. We immediately fall in love with the character.


Would we consider these all-time classics to be two of the best movies ever if Andy and William Wallace just complained the whole movie about how unfair their lives were? Blamed the government or their spouse for screwing them over? Of course not! So why do we do this in our own lives? Why do we give up our power in these moments and let others hold us down in the pit of oppression? Why do we let politicians tell us we are less than and owed something because our circumstance wasn’t as good as the next persons?


Let me tell you a little secret about life, everyone has bad things happen to them. Everyone that lives long enough has somebody close to them completely screw them over. There’s no honor in becoming a victim though, there’s no reward to using your bad fortune as an excuse to play down in life. We don’t remember and we don’t honor those that complain about how bad they have it, we honor those that despite everything around them coming together to conspire against them, find a way to come out a winner. We build statues for these men and women and they inspire us in our own lives to do the same. 


So I ask you a question, if an audience was watching a condensed movie of your life, how would they feel about the main character? This is my invitation to you to become the hero of your own life! Quit looking to get bailed out by someone else. Even if you do manage to get some support, your life won’t change until you decide that it is you that controls the outcome!


I was recently at an event in Miami and had the chance to listen to Dean Graziosi speak about this very topic. He told us a story that made every single person in the room laugh because we have all experienced something similar. He said that morning he got in his Uber to come to the event and the driver was a middle aged white man in his 60’s. He said he already knew what he was going to talk about before he opened his mouth because it’s the same thing every single time he gets in an Uber. He said, “If the driver is from another country then they’ll tell you about the opportunity Uber has given them and how in this country they are so blessed to be free and that he is saving up his money for whatever is next in his life.”


But, he said, if the driver isn’t foreign, it is almost always a middle aged white guy and he will tell me every single time about how he would have made it big IF it wasn’t for ____. Usually a partner or person that had screwed them over. Funny thing is, it was usually 10 if not 20 years earlier. These people get so caught up in their story that their life never becomes anything else.


The point is simple, take control of your own life. 


We don’t cheer for The Count of Monte Cristo because he didn’t go through any conflict. We don’t cheer on the loveable guy in any romantic comedy because everything he tries on the girl works from the start of the show. We cheer for people that get knocked down and look like there is no way they are getting back up. We cheer for people that the world conspires against yet this is when the hero appears, usually in the disguise as a normal human like you and I, and this is when he fights and collects small little wins until they become bigger wins and ultimately he or she triumphs.


This is how you begin to live an exceptional life. Take everything the universe throws at you and thank it because you already know that a tree can only grow so high if the roots don’t go deep. Be the main character that everyone is cheering on to win. Be the person that doesn’t give up because he knows that isn’t even an option. 


Be the Hero of your own story. 

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