My Anchors – Intro (Your story)

In my previous post, I promised to share an “anchor” of mine, as an example.

My original intention was simply to recap for you the time I spent in China this past summer. Though I was only there for four months, those four months were probably the most significant single block of time in my life thus far.

When I sat down to try to do it, however, I found it impossible.

The fact is, I am a person who actively uses several different anchors.

Now, I don’t always have the best memory for a lot of things. Often I won’t remember, or even pick up on, things that would be incredibly obvious to most people.

When it comes to the things that are important to me, however, I have a great memory.

Some memories I’ve stored so vividly I can practically relive them, sometimes down to actual footsteps, or the turn of a door handle. I recognize that some of these details may have been fabricated by my (flawed) memory. But the point is, I pay very close attention to the things that matter to me, and as a result they stay with me in a powerful way, and continue to affect me long after I’ve experienced them.

For instance, due to my nomadic lifestyle, I often find myself in transit. If I’m in a situation where it’s impossible to read or write, or if I’m simply not in the mood for information intake, even for something as informal as people-watching, I’ll simply revisit memories in my head.

I can actually do this for hours at a time. Sometimes I’ll play scenes, sometimes I’ll focus on a snapshot, sometimes I’ll just flip through faces.

Sometimes I’ll put one on replay, but sometimes I also like to mix it up.

Sometimes I’ll do this with really trivial mental material.

Often I’ll do this with my anchors.



I’ve said this before, but I’ll say it again, because I think it’s crucial to understand:

In the end, everything becomes just a story.



Whether horrific or mundane, momentous or inconsequential, everything becomes just a story.

One of my all-time favorite movie endings is that of Martin Scorsese’s “Gangs of New York.” The final words:

“It was four days and nights before the worst of the mob was finally put down. We never knew how many New Yorkers died that week before the city was finally delivered. My father told me we was all born of blood and tribulation, and so then too was our great city. But for those of us what lived and died in them furious days, it was like everything we knew was mildly swept away. And no matter what they did to build this city up again... for the rest of time... it would be like no one even knew we was ever here.”



­-Amsterdam Vallon, played by Leonardo DiCaprio

Even the most revolutionary of events, or the most influential of men, eventually become nothing, lost or forgotten.

Thanks to a powerful human desire to preserve and chronicle, and to refuse to let go, we have remnants to hold on to and to appreciate.

These remnants take the form of stories.

But ultimately, even the most extraordinary stories of the past are of limited importance. Paltry even.

History is utterly insignificant compared to the vital force of now.



And the now – the present – doesn’t hold for any single story.



At its heart, that is what your life is – just one more story in the story of humanity.



But take fierce pride in the fact that your story is in the here and now.



Because of that, it is as important as any story that ever lived.

So live your story with vigor, and embrace your life with joy and passion. Don’t live too much in the past.

But every once in a while, take the time to revisit your story, and to learn from it, not just from reading “the classics” or "the Great Books" of the Western Canon, or whatever other stuff other people tell you is important.

Realize that far more than with any book, or any blog, or any other assembled collection of words, you can relate to your own story.

Not only can you relate, you can distill the essence from your story, and use that essence as an anchor to hold you steady through life.

With all of this in mind, I’ve decided to start a series of posts on my own essential stories, on My Anchors, of which this is the introductory post. Many of these will come from my time in China, but I'm sure there will be many more from elsewhere.

This will be one of the most selfish sections of this blog. Hopefully you'll still be able to learn from my stories and my anchors, and most importantly, use them to help you shape your own stories and anchors.

THEY SAY

You walk around slinging the story of your life on your back.

Your story informs how you see, how you feel, how you do.

Wellspring of your thoughts and actions, self-woven with the most vibrant bits and pieces of your life, and held together by the stitches of your personality, your story is inescapable.

It is who you are.

Make sure your story is a good one. It's in your hands.

-David

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