Scenes and outtakes
When you watch a movie or a tv show, you see snippets. They‘re strung together in a way that shows time passing and a narrative unfolding.
You don’t see all the in between bits. You don’t see them going back to sleep or binge watching Community or paying their bills or scrolling through imgur.
You see the highlights, the meaningful bits. You get an impression of a life through the story of it. String enough of the right scenes together and suddenly, you’re in a romance.
The bits you focus on and the story you tell yourself about them shape how you feel about life.
Lately I’ve been restlessness and wondering what needs to change. I’ve been looking at all my outtakes, the unflattering scenes, and telling myself a story that’s aimless and uninspiring.
Yet, as I flicked through my Facebook photos, I got a completely different impression.
I looked at them and strung them together like someone else might. Life actually looked pretty good. I’d like to live that life.
It was full of events, dancing, adventures, playfulness, good times and epic landscapes.
I had to admit, there’s some cool shit in there.
Successful. Adventurous. Present. Inspired. Happy. These are not end states that can be achieved.
They’re only ever choices in the moment and the way you put those moments together.
It’s all about the story you tell yourself.
“nodus tollens n. the realization that the plot of your life doesn’t make sense to you anymore—that although you thought you were following the arc of the story, you keep finding yourself immersed in passages you don’t understand, that don’t even seem to belong in the same genre—which requires you to go back and reread the chapters you had originally skimmed to get to the good parts, only to learn that all along you were supposed to choose your own adventure.
Muchness 
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