4 obstacles in the way of living your story

Story is living intentionally.

I’ve spent a lot of my last few posts on the concept of intentionally living your story. I was challenged at the recent Storyline conference I attended in Portland, Oregon with Kia. If you’ve missed it, here are a few of the posts I’ve made about the conference and trip:

• Why I loved Portland.
• The basis of your life as a story.
• What you want really matters.

One of the things I find amazing is that once you truly define what you want you will also meet conflict and obstacles. As I stated in the last post, conflict can be internal or external – people, circumstances, etc.

Here are 4 obstacles I’ve seen stand in my way of living an intentional life.

1. Not really knowing what I want.

Sometimes, you can get so beaten down by life that the biggest obstacle is knowing what you  really want. One of the way that I find this manifests itself in my life is thinking I want something that really isn’t that important to me.

Specifically I am referring to stuff. Making my life about wanting a “thing.” Don’t get me wrong, I have no problem with material possessions, it’s just that in and of itself the joy of a new thing quickly wears off if there isn’t a greater purpose behind it.

2. The “ought to’s” in my life.

I imagine this applies most to people who grew up with strict backgrounds or are perfectionists by nature. It’s that voice inside your head that says, “I really should be doing…” when you really want to do what it is you are made to do.

It’s making commitments that you never should have because you feel like it’s your duty. It’s not quitting a job or task that is taking you nowhere fast because you feel a sense of obligation.

Donald Miller is the one who got me thinking about this concept. He writes about “2 words that kill passion” on his blog.

3. Apathy

I don’t know what it is about really, truly wanting something. Too many times I do  nothing about it. Maybe it’s because I am scared, or it’s going to take a lot of work. I think that the term apathy describes it best. Apathy means that you really don’t care THAT much about what you want.

Here’s the great thing about apathy; the more intentional you are about living life, the less apathetic you will be.

4. Letting others hijack your story.

To this point the obstacles I’ve mentioned have been internal conflicts. All things that you truly have complete control over. It’s completely your choice how you respond and how those conflicts effect you.

When it comes to having goals and desires for your life, only you and God can really know what’s inside you (and maybe your therapist too). You are the one who has the inside track on what your life is meant to do and be.

We have to be aware and careful about giving power to other people in shaping what our story is. Yur parents, friends, clients, and even spouse and kids may be well-intentioned, but may have too much of a say in where you are headed as a photographer, business owner and person.

When making decisions you need to make sure that you step back, really know what you want, and clearly outline those to the ones you live and work with. If you don’t you will live in conflict with both yourself and most likely those people.

It’s up to you.

Your business is waiting to move into new directions. It could care less if it does the same thing you’ve always done or not.

Your photography would love to have new life and feeling. It loves different, cutting edge and unique.

You life yearns for meaning and something bigger than a house, a car and a cute dog.

So as Nike coined, “Just do it.” Just start living intentionally. Now.