Are You The Victim or Hero of Your Story?

Unique Perspectives: Are You The Victim or Hero of Your Story?

By Kim Stevens

Everyone has a story. I know that to be true. But I’ve also learned there are two possible approaches when telling that story, framing yourself as either the victim or the hero. 

I wake up in the morning to find it’s snowing, the kind of heavy mid-winter snowfall that’ll prevent me from doing all the things I need to get done that day. I could wallow in the unfortunate turn of weather, a sad victim now stuck in a mess of ice and sludgy snow, OR I could be the hero of my story. I could make some hot tea, work productively from home and create a really beautiful day for myself as I watch the snow fall. 

The difference between telling my story as the victim or as the hero is a shift in how I look at the things that happen in my life: Either I look at them as happening TO me (victim) or I look at them as happening FOR me (hero). This applies as much to life's most spectacular occurrences as it does to the things that on the surface, might seem totally bleak. 

I always believe everything is a miracle. Life is happening for me and all good things are coming my way.

When I shift my perspective to be the hero of my story, it becomes even easier to adopt this everything-is-a-miracle ideology. I’m immediately able to see all the gifts and lessons in even the darkest of circumstances – getting diagnosed with cancer, navigating a tough market, repairing close, personal relationships. 

So whenever I tell my story, I always try to think of it from the position of the hero, asking myself: 

• What did I gain from this experience?

• What lessons did I learn?

• What gifts did I acquire?

Once I figure out the answers to those questions, I’m reminded that life isn’t happening TO me, it’s happening FOR me, and as the hero who faces every obstacle with courage and bravery, I can make the most of anything that comes my way.