What Can’t You Afford to Edit out of Your Story?

Michelle:

When I was a teenager, I remember coming home after breaking up with a guy and my dad asking me how it went. I gave the inevitable teenage response, “I don’t want to talk about it.” My dad responded, “You don’t have to. But you do need to remember that there are some things in life that you can’t afford to edit out of your story. Is this one of them?”Chris:

Michelle told me about this conversation with her dad when I shared that I saw this article talking about how people utilize social media to show only their great stuff, such as vacations and new cars etc. And while great stuff is great, bad stuff happens too…so why do we try to hide it?

Michelle:

Some of my greatest moments of growth came from some of the challenging things we have faced. When I had to have a knee replacement at the ripe old age of 36, I didn’t post it as a highlight happening in our life.  However, I certainly learned that walking can be hard, my husband is really strong and my physical therapist didn’t care what names I called him or how many tears I cried. I also learned I’m stronger than I thought I was and the pain won’t last forever.

Chris:

As much as I would like to edit this out of my story, the day I failed the PGA test by one shot seemed like the end of the world. I was thankful no one was in the car with me as I drove away from the golf course cussing and trying to pin blame on the wind, bad bounces, my clubs, the course conditions, or really anyone or anything else. I envisioned myself throwing my golf clubs away in the lake on the last hole. From that challenge, I learned that my wife will do anything to get me to smile (imagine Monica from Friends with a turkey on her head and sunglasses).  Try as I might to blame others for my failures, they are mine to own.  To my surprise the sun rose the next day and there I was back out on the golf course, ironically having one of the best games of my life.

Michelle:

Life can be funny sometimes.We have had some amazing moments and some incredibly challenging ones. While we have a camera roll full of pictures to remind us of the good times, it’s the lessons we learn from the challenging times that no photo could capture no matter how many filters you use to edit them.