There’s always a (long) story behind the good stuff

All the good stuff of life, the good stuff in life.

The meaningful friendships. The hard-won victories. The soul-satisfying, worth-it relationships.

Looking back (if you really look), it’s always a long story.

But when we’re looking forward, so often we look for the the short cut, the quick race to the glorious finish.

The ease and quickness, or at least the idea of it, is tempting because that’s usually the only way we can get ourselves to start. And if we succeed, wouldn’t that make a great story?

Sometimes, we do succeed in the quick.

But mostly, we don’t.

That’s because good stories don’t work that way.

In our despair, hopelessness, in the midst of dark struggle, it helps to change the narrative.

Instead of waiting for the hard times to end, we could change that part of the story to how we turn things around, find something in ourselves we didn’t think we had, go further than we ever thought possible.

Slowly, at times. With twists and turns, ups and downs.

Not because we like to, but because it’s how we need to.

Isn’t that what makes a good story?

Come to think of it, the ones I love best are never quick and easy, but the long, gripping ones that make me feel alive.