History is Dead. Long Live History!

In the early 1990's Francis Fukuyama stunned the world with his writings that challenged the very way that history itself was understood. He argued that the end of the Cold War and the universalization of democracy signaled the end of history itself. Whether or not that is the case is the subject of ongoing conversation.

But the shock with which the world greeted the possibility was, and continues to be, a powerful illustration of how important history seems to be to us all as individuals. After all, if I had no history, no past, how could I define myself? Who would I be?

Exactly!

To quote George Bernard Shaw, "Hegel was right when he said that we learn from history that man can never learn anything from history."

Your history is exactly that: your story. Your story of who you think you are, good and bad. And wrapped up in all of that is what you think you can and can't do, can and can't have, can and can't ask for, and much, much more.

What if you left all of that out with the trash tonight and began creating yourself anew in the morning?

That voice in your head, right now, that says, "That's all great talk, but I can't really do that." Yes, that one, it's part of your story, too. I believe it was Plato who argued that "those who tell the stories rule society." Well, who is telling the stories inside of you?

As you run today, make sure that you run an entirely new route, one that is unfamiliar to you as much as possible. If you usually run in the mornings, run in the afternoon, or at night, or all three. If you are used to running for 40 minutes, run for an hour, or ten minutes. Or walk for fifteen minutes in the middle of your run. If you are out on a beach of large, safe expanse of land, run backwards, or with your eyes closed if you think it's safe. Sing as you run, shout if you want to. For heaven's sake, mix it up.

My story was a wonderfully important one. It involved pain and suffering, beatings as a child, alcohol and drug addiction, etc, etc. And when that wasn't not my story, winning over all those influences was. It was not until I let go of all of that that a sudden, new question leapt out at me, like a shiny penny on the sidewalk.

Not, "Who am I? Not, "What have I become?" Not even, "What can I become?" Simply, "What do I want to become?" Want to. If I could be any way that I wanted in the world, how would I be?

Now that's a trail worth running.