fiction

Do you ever get a text message from someone and immediately start writing a narrative in your head of what the person must be thinking, feeling or doing? It sends you into a spiral or writing a narrative about your future and maybe theirs that does not exist.

This has been one of the largest struggles for me as I have moved into a life with more anxiety and far less depression. I read into situations more than I need to. I am very harsh on myself (hello Enneagram 1!). I usually somehow convince myself that I was the one who caused an issue, an issue I just created off a narrative I made up in my own mind. 

As I type this I'm thinking how silly is it that I put some much weight on a story I created that has no real weight. Now that I recognize I have this tendency I try to pause before I keep writing this fiction book in my head. What do I know to be true and factual? What am I making up? A reminder that my feelings are mine and yours are yours. I do not need to carry anyone else's feelings or continue writing that great fiction novel.  

This is usually easier said than done, I am just glad I recognize the tendency to press pause, stop the typewriter and move from fiction to non fiction. God does not want us to have anxiety now or in the future. The fiction story is only that, fiction, it is not the story God has already written. The story of glorification he has for each of us if we lay down our anxieties and worry, if we give it all to him. 

To more non fiction and less fiction,
Lisa