Want to See a Great Movie…About You?

There is a full-length feature film being made at this moment.  No one has any idea if it will be a box office hit or a flop.  And, the only the person who can manipulate the outcome is you…because it’s a movie of your life. 

It’s impossible for you to sit down now with popcorn and a Coke and watch this movie because it will take another four to eight years to finish filming this particular part.  The subject?  Your high school and college career as a student-athlete, and when you look back, you will understand why it will be one of the most critical phases of your life. 

What happens to you over the next half decade or so will determine the course of so many things in your future life.  The memories will tell a story of successes and failures.  They will unfold the decisions you will make, piece by piece, exposing good and bad judgement.  And, as those decisions are revealed the consequences of your actions will emerge in new circumstances and choices. 

Just now, though, think about what you want to see happen in this movie.  We know that it will be full of ups and downs, highs and lows.  But how many of these hills and valleys there will be in your particular movie will turn largely on the options accepted or temptations avoided. 

Can you see it in your mind?  What will the opening scene be like, starting tomorrow?  Will it show a person whose life is a series of positive personal moves and well-considered commitments, or will it chronicle a list of unfortunate stumbles which pushed you downward, farther and farther from the outcome you thought would happen? 

Or, will this movie be about how you studied hard, produced good grades and won an academic scholarship to a prestigious college which then allowed you, through dedication and diligence, to graduate and go on to a productive life for you and your family.  This version of the movie sees your parents sitting in the background, proudly watching their child become a successful, responsible adult while achieving all the good things they had always hoped would be yours. 

But, there’s another version, too.  This one continually puts you at risk.  It shows you as a lazy student whose potential is never quite realized because you spent more time paying attention to trivial matters which kept you from being as successful as you could have become.  It is a sad profile of a youngster who cared more about what everyone else thought than what was best in the long run.  Its dark background reflects the move of a bitter person without the benefit of accepting responsibility, taking smart risks, respecting oneself or having a clear, realistic vision of the future. 

It’s on you, that is, the production of your movie.  You can allow outside, negative influences to slowly nudge you into a life which you will one day regret having lived.  Or, you can grab hold of your own destiny, create a virtuous, productive life and one day enjoy having taken a rich and fullfilling life course.