314: A letter of rebellion
Today we're diving into the idea of living an unabridged life, what that means, and why it's worth sticking with your story.
Episode transcript:
Good morning Daily Peppers, and a very happy Friday to you. We made it so I thought we'd kick off this Friday with a bit of story time and I'm reading one of the stories I recently wrote as a Letter of Rebellion, which is what I call my Sunday emails. So here we go. When I was younger, one of my favorite parts, if not my favourite part of the week, was my Saturday morning trips to the library with my dad. He'd go looking to find their latest CDs and DVDs and I'd squirrel away to the children's section. I was a huge fan of serialized books like the Baby Sitters Club and I always knew which number I was searching for and it was such a satisfying day when they had the next installment available. But I also love checking out the audiobook section, running my fingers across the titles to see if there were any new ones after exhausting so many of them already. And when I did find one, I hadn't heard.
One of the first things I do is I check the back to see in the fine print if it was abridged or unabridged. I've always loved knowing the whole story and I'd never borrow one if it is abridged because I felt like I was being cheated. The idea of listening to a story with bits left out. Well, it was a hard no from me. And here's the thing we learn as we grow. At times we all wish we could live the abridged versions of our lives. The version where we didn't have to go through painful things. We could skip over chapters we didn't particularly enjoy and get to the exciting parts.
The version where we could soak up all the good things, escape the bad things and and joyfully skip over the bits which are just plain boring. But as much as sometimes I know it would be easier and sometimes it is just so fucking tempting, I have to agree with my nine year old self. It is still a hard no from me. Around here we are truth tellers. We seek out honesty, authenticity, and things that accurately represent what it is to be a human having a human experience. Whether we do it consciously or not. I think we like to see ourselves in things, to see that we do survive and thrive, and to remind ourselves that we're not alone. And we just simply wouldn't be satisfied with the abridged version.
We'd want to know what was missing, we'd want to know the full story, and we would feel cheated if we didn't get it. So to wrap up this week, I want you to be proud of yourself for living the unabridged version, for facing hard things when they happen and doing the best you can. I want you to be proud of staying with the story even when the chapter gets long, the plot gets vague, and you have no idea about the ending. The thing about living the unabridged life is that you get all of the details while the blues are more vivid, the yellows are brighter, and you get the nuance, the context and and all the clues that help you figure out the plot along the way. So whether you are sick to shit of your current chapter, whether the pages are so dog eared and beaten, or whether you're loving the current storyline but wondering what comes around the corner today, I want you to focus on the fact that you're in the story. You're living it, you're sticking with it, come what may. And that takes serious courage. And you have tons of it.
So to my 9 year old stubborn self with her sheep cassette player. To you, wherever you are. Keep going. So that is it for this week's Daily Peps. If you would like to receive letters like the one I just read to you every Sunday in your inbox, make sure you signed up to my Letters of Rebellion by going to the link in the Show Notes or by going to therebelrousers.com and clicking on Sunday Letters. And I can't wait to see you either in your inbox on Sunday or your earbuds or through your speakers on Monday morning. Have a good one. Be really fucking proud of yourself and keep going. See you then.
Episode transcript automatically produced by Castmagic.io
ABOUT THE DAILY PEP!
New episodes air every Monday - Friday 6AM GMT.
A short, snappy and sassy daily podcast to keep your internal - and external - dreamshitters at bay!
The Daily Pep! is the rebel-rousing, daily podcast for couragemakers, creative, multi-passionate and unconventional women. If you’re surrounded by people who don’t get who you are or what you do, if you want reminders you’re on the right path (no matter how scary it feels), or you’re sick of being your very own worst enemy, this is the podcast for you.
Every weekday, your host - writer, coach and professional rebel-rouser - Meg Kissack helps you build a creative and wholehearted life, one day at a time. Through short and snappy insights, reminders and stories, The Daily Pep! is here to remind you you’re not alone, and that everything changes when you believe you matter. Each episode is short and snappy, designed to fit in with (or help you start) your habits and routines.
MORE REBEL-ROUSING THIS WAY!
