This evening, on the way back from California, I finished reading the book, “A Million Miles In a Thousand Years: How to Live a Better Story” by Donald Miller. Miller was offered to have a movie written based on his life. When he sat down with the writers, he realized that his life wasn’t interesting enough for a movie. As the movie became more loosely based on his life he decided to change the way he was living. This book was about what he learned from writing the movie, how to write stories, and how to live a great story. 

Miller was a 300 lbs man who decided he was going to do something meaningful. He tells his story, and what he learned from others, as he founded a mentoring program for kids and biked across America.

This book really made me think about what marks our accomplishments. Is it the title of a victory or the story of how we got there?

Sometimes the stars align, your talent and hard work adds up, the opposition falls to your feet, and you enjoy the view from the top of the podium. Other times, after all the hard work, the results don’t seem to make sense. Every good athlete has asked themselves what they could’ve done differently to win. Sometimes there is no answer to that question. There is no mathematical formula to sports.

Miller wrote about the movie Friday Night Lights, the story of the 1988 Odessa Football team almost winning the State Championship. Why would someone want to make a film about the Odessa team that almost won? Especially since Odessa won the state championship the following year in 1989. Apparently the team tried harder the time they lost, in compared to the time they won. The struggle and the loss was a better feature film story in comparison to the time the stars aligned and winning took care of itself.

I was the underdog winner at the 2008 Olympic Trials. I was the young 15-year-old, with no senior international experience, who no one expected to win. For me, the stars aligned. With hard work, talent, and with no back up plan to winning, the year came together as I planned. No real struggle involved. It was just a story of kid who believed they could accomplish anything.

I feel like I blinked and its suddenly four years later. With 2012 Olympic Trials just around the corner, its hard to not think about where I was, and where I have been since. Most days in your life come and go with no significance. Its natural to sink into a routine and before you know it, years have gone by.

Miller talks about a family who found New Years Day to be one of the most boring day of the year. So one year, this family decided to make the day exciting for their kids by putting on a parade down their street. A few days prior the kids went door-to-door notifying their neighbors of the parade. There was one rule- everyone was encouraged to march, but no one was allowed to watch. The parade would end at the family’s backyard for a barbeque. About a dozen people turned up to enjoy each others company in their home made costumes on the most boring day of the year, and since then it became a tradition. Now hundreds of people participate in this neighborhood parade, and no one watches. 

Everyone’s life is their own parade that no one is allowed to watch. No one can watch your life, only you know the steps you take. The people we meet along the way, march with us for a while, influence the way we walk, then wander down a different street. Who knows what’s at the end of the parade, maybe there’s a barbeque or maybe the screen just goes black and the credits roll. No one knows what is going to happen at the end of our lives, but I’m going to make my story one worth telling.