The Story

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Someone once said to me, “The only thing you really own in this life is your story, so you’d better make it a good one”. This statement troubled me for a long time. I gave it a lot of thought and realized I don’t really have a story, not one that anyone would read anyway, mine would be that dusty auto-biography that sat up the back of the shelf for years on end until it was finally discounted to $1.50, and someone buys it to put their kids to sleep. Yeah I’ve tried a few things like diving, kite surfing an skydiving, but never stuck with anything long enough to get good at it or to have stories to tell or even to say, “yeah, I’m a skydiver”. Long ($1.50) story short, school was uneventful, 12 months of uni, dropped out, hit the mines, spent as much money as I earned, and just drifted through life with the current. No wife, no kids, just drifting solo.
About 2 years ago I was in a car accident that broke a vertebra in my back; luckily (very luckily) I survived and retained the use of my legs. But after 3 months in plaster and 4 months off work the doctors said I couldn’t go back to the mines, so I stepped into the field of Safety, which is even more boring than it sounds. All the while the question has been in the back of my mind ‘What’s my story’, ok so my accident is definitely newsworthy but it’s no heroic tale of recovery, I didn’t have to re-learn how to walk, I didn’t go on to climb Mt Everest, I just got on with life, and slipped back into the current, and kept drifting.

I’m 26 years old, and I have no idea what I want to do with my future, who I want to be, or what my reason or purpose is in this cosmos of ours. So I made a decision. Three months ago I decided to get out; out of this river, out of this life, out of this country. I decided to tear up the first chapters and start again. I booked a ticket, boarded a plane and set forth to write my story.

I am 26 years old and here is my story.

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