Responsibility TO the Story

In dating, I am responsible for the story I tell myself about him.

AND, perhaps more importantly,

I am responsible TO the story I tell myself about him.

It is on me to tell stories where he's the hero, where his actions are reasonable and make sense, where he's generous and kind and compassionate toward me.

It is on me to LEAVE if it's hard to tell the story that he's the hero, when I can only describe his behavior as aggravating, insensitive, or uncaring.

If I can't see him as generous and kind and compassionate toward me, if I can't see him as admirable and respectable most of the time, I have to be responsible TO that story, acknowledge that I am choosing to stay in a situation where that's the story.

Being responsible TO my story means that I acknowledge my life is primarily governed by what *I serve me* and how I speak to myself about what I serve me.

I'm not going to tell you that you can ALWAYS tell the story where your partner is your hero. It's not true, it's bypassing and gaslighting and all the bad advice about how to stay in a bad relationship.

What I'm saying is that if it's hard to tell the story where your partner or potential partner is the hero, look to yourself. What makes the story where your partner is a villain so compelling? So compelling that you tell it and DAILY choose to live it?

If that's the only story, what has you serving yourself THAT instead of *literally anything else in the world* during your one and only life?

The gold is, as always, within YOU.