Rewrite Your Life Story (Motivational Podcast)

Have you ever wondered if the life you're living is truly yours or a script handed down by family, society, or tradition? That feeling when you wake up in the morning and something doesn't quite resonate is your authentic self trying to speak.

The English Sisters dive deep into what it means to become the author of your own life story, examining how we often unconsciously follow patterns and expectations set by others. Through personal anecdotes and powerful insights, they explore the liberation that comes from picking up the metaphorical pen and writing your own narrative—even when faced with opposition from those closest to you.

Breaking free doesn't mean rejecting all traditions or making dramatic overnight changes. It can begin with small steps: a side hustle that fulfills your passion, quiet boundary-setting, or simply affirming to yourself that you deserve to live authentically. The sisters address the emotional manipulation and guilt often used to keep us in old stories, offering practical wisdom on how to respectfully but firmly claim your right to self-determination.

Perhaps most powerfully, they remind us that rewriting your life story is a daily practice requiring courage, commitment, and self-compassion. It's about recognizing that while the familiar may feel comfortable, true peace comes from living in alignment with your authentic self—even when that path looks different from what others expected for you.

Ready to pick up your pen and start writing? Listen now, and share your story with us in the comments. Are you writing your own narrative, or still finding the courage to begin?

Chapters

• 0:00 Writing Your Own Life Story
• 1:58 Breaking Free From Others' Expectations
• 6:03 Finding Your Voice Gradually
• 9:15 Recognizing Emotional Manipulation
• 13:25 Taking Daily Steps Toward Authenticity

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

What life story are you telling yourself, and is it a productive, beautiful story, or is it a story you'd rather ditch, and would you rather learn to rewrite your story or edit your own life story script? Exactly that's what we're going to be chatting about in this week's episode of Mind Health and Anxiety In Get Real With the English Sisters. Yeah, I mean, there are lots of things you know that we tell ourselves in our old stories and it's kind of the things that we repeat to ourselves, aren't they? Well, it makes me think of that. The fairy tale story of finding the prince and you know all the princess, and getting married and having children and doing all these things that you know. This it's not always, it's not always suitable for us, is it? It can be, it can be changed and you can. Maybe that's somebody else's story and that was great for somebody else, but it might not be actually your story. Yeah, it might be a story that was fine for for someone you knew, for a family member, but maybe your story is a different one and maybe you are living out somebody else's story for because you're frightened of change or you're frightened of being judged, and you know, I think, until we learn to really write our own story, then we are finally free.

Speaker 1: 1:38

Yeah, that reminds me of Lisa Bilyeu. She was saying that her, her mum and dad, she's from a Greek family very traditional, which she thought they were anyway, and was saying that her, her mum and dad, she's from a Greek family very traditional, which she thought they were anyway, and she said that her mum, they set her mum and dad separated and then her mum had this lovely friend come and live with them and she was always there and it wasn't till years later that she actually came out that she was her, her partner, that they were in love. They were in love and now they've got married. She'd been hiding the fact that she was gay and that she had this relationship with this, with this woman. That was just supposed to be like a family friend. And, yeah, lisa was saying it's such a shame that she could, she didn't have the confidence just to come out and say it to us, because we, we really did love her and we do love her now, but it's it's.

Speaker 1: 2:31

It wasn't. It wasn't a story that was acceptable exactly in her, in her the way it was. It was an old script that belonged to somebody else and it's certainly this old script that we all tend to follow. Yeah, and there's one script written by one person years and years ago, or by by some kind of politics or religion that wants us to follow the flock and behave, and we all tend to follow that story, especially when it comes to things like what you were saying, you know, marriage, and a lot of the time we don't realize as well. They're like subconscious patterns that we've been like hypnotized into thinking that this is what we have to do. Yes, you don't realize it, or we're just following in our father's footsteps or our mother's footsteps, or living up to somebody, uh, somebody else's dream for their expectations that they have that. But I mean. But I mean, when you grab your own story, say, no, I'm going to start writing. This is very freeing, very, very freeing. You can start with a new affirmation, like every day. You can start with, you know, imagining that you've got a new pen in your hand. It's a pen that has never been held by anyone before and this is your pen, and it's your pen, and you can write your own script. You can write the story day by day, the story of how you're going to live your life exactly, and and you can respect other people's stories, no judgment, but you can let go of the fear and decide to write your story, and you may say that's easier said than done. I'm just gonna say that can be really tricky for some. Yes, it can be for most people, for all of us it's really tricky we all because we're breaking away from what is, especially if we're breaking away from what is expected of us, especially if we're breaking away a lot. You know it's a big thing and we've decided that no, we don't want to go to law school, we want to go and do this. Or we don't want to have children. Oh, especially with the children Grandma and granddad are expecting to have grandkids. Our mum and dad want babies. Yeah, how do we deal with that? That's their story. They have the babies, exactly. And is it really? They say, it's my right to become a granddad or a grandmother? Why, why? Yes, it's not really your right. It was your right to create your story. But when your story has to become my story at all costs and change the whole script of my life, is that really going to be? Is that really helpful or fair? I wanted to say the word fair, but I thought it's not fair. Is it really fair? And and just because it's been a past script that has gone on and on and on, is it really fair today? And, and you know some people may say yes, it's fair and don't ask so many questions, otherwise there'd be no kids around. Yeah, and it's respectful for the elders, exactly. And how can you respect your elders? You can respect them by speaking your truth and gently explaining to them that, no matter how much you respect them and you are so grateful for the values and beliefs that they have passed on and all those useful lessons you've learned from them, at the same time, you've also learned to become independent and you must prioritize your own self in this case. And because you have to write your own story, they cannot write it for you, because you will never be happy, no, and if there isn't, if you don't write your own story, you will live in resentment most people do and regret and regret so, and you'll look back on your life and think, wow, yes, exactly what happened, because it doesn't last that long our lives and we have to think about that. We have to think, okay, you know, am I writing this for my father, for my mother for for the elders, like what you were saying, or do I have to sort of understand that? This is me. I've come into the universe and I've got something to say, and something may be different, and if you don't have something different, then your story can intertwine really comfortably with their story and it become one long story of continuous tradition, etc. And that's also really beautiful. There may be something else that you want to express about yourself, though, because it might be you might be very happy to to continue in many of the traditions. It doesn't mean you're going to break free of all of them, no. It doesn't mean that your story has to be something spectacular no, no, absolutely. You know and film worthy that millions of people are going to go and watch you. You just have to feel as if you're just calm and just happy and just serene, but you're following your truth. You're not like living a lie. You can ask yourself am I living a lie? Am I living someone else's story? It's my story. This is what I really want to do. I think there is a moment of great reflection there for all of us. Yeah, my daughter's fiance, he, he, he said he didn't have the courage to tell his parents. He's from Chile. He didn't have the courage to tell his parents he didn't want to become um a doctor, because they wanted him to study medicine or law and he, he didn't want to. He wanted to study science, and so he didn't. What he did is he didn't tell them, he escaped. Well, he didn't tell them until it was too late and that he'd already, you know, practically finished his studies. He just kind of told a white lie and said he was at university without specifying okay, that's probably a good idea. In the dark dark were they very annoyed about that? No, in the end they kind of had to accept it because he was older, I suppose. And then he came to the UK and that, and then he met my daughter and everything's fine and dandy now, but he's living his story. So it's not like his parents originally didn't want him to study that and they wanted him to do something else. So in the end you have to ask yourself is that going to make me happy? Because if you're not, you know, if you're not, am I? If your heart isn't in there, your mind's not in it. What's the point that you're? You're absolutely right, yeah. What is the point of living a life that was designed for somebody else. That is so true and you can realize that at any time, even if you're in the story and you've decided to go ahead and do something, you can always think about something that you can change to make it more your story. So say, you did have children and you've got your kids now and you're obviously in the end you're happy. You know you can be a happy family. But perhaps you choose to go to work, for example, because you realize that you've always wanted to do something I don't know know, work in own your own business or something you know don't. You know you can. You can still live that story. You know, if you have a dream, it's a bit like a side job, isn't it? What's a side job? What you're doing, something else sometimes, if you think you can't get away because there's too many difficulties in the, you know in the story that you're living and you feel as if you can't just break free from it. You can have, like, start your little side hustle where you're actually doing what you want to do. Yes, without you know, making too many waves. Yeah, until one day maybe you can break free. Yeah, absolutely. You may have been silent, but you can slowly find your voice. You can whisper at first and talk, you know, tell yourself about what you want to do, and when you feel safe enough, you can also tell others that you know are going to support you in your journey, because perhaps somebody around you may way you know that business idea is really bad or whatever, I don't know. But you can find people that are gonna support you and help you because because it is, because it's worth it ultimately, absolutely it's totally worth it to to become the author of your story, and and it is a daily practice, I think so it's not something we can just Well, you have to work on it, yes, it's not something you can just say yes, I want to be the author of my story. It's a bit like writing a real book. You have to put some effort into it, don't you? You have to make sure that it's discipline, isn't it? Yes, you're going to Taking those steps every day. You're going to hold that pen and not let it go and carry it through every day, setting boundaries as well, exactly that. Boundaries, especially, perhaps, from people that you know are not going to become part of your new story. They don't want you to have a new story. They want you to stay in the old story that you were stuck in in the past and um and that can happen a lot of the times does a lot, but you can't live someone else's life ultimately. That's why they have their own life, exactly. They've had their choices that they've had to make. A lot of times they will try and guilt you in saying I sacrificed everything for you Very common. I did everything for you. What are you doing in return? You're not even letting me have this satisfaction of having. You know, you go to university or you study medicine or you do this, become the dancer, because I put you through dance, I put you through university. You know they'll come up with all this like emotional blackmail to you know, to stop you from, from pursuing your own story. Yeah, making it all about them again. And you might know that you might. You'll feel this. You'll feel that when you get up in the morning, you'll feel that you're not. There's something that's not resonating with you. You'll know. You know what we're talking about, the people. You know those of you that are listening to this and do feel this way. You know exactly what we mean when we're saying this. You, you're not living the way you were supposed to live because, let's face it, each one of us was supposed to do that. You know, it doesn't really matter what it is, it could be doing absolutely anything, doesn't matter whether you believe in fate or not, but we know our things that we have to be doing. Yes, we do have to be doing and we know we have to be doing them. And the things that we we feel that satisfy us, satisfy us and that make us feel calm and not always calm, because there are certain things that can bring a great difficult, difficult, yeah, and you have to overcome, overcome hurdles, yeah, absolutely. We know all about that. Yes, but when you? The thing is that when you know that you're narrating your own story, there's a lot of satisfaction in the you know, in your failures or in your successes, because you know it's true, it's true for you, it rings true to you, yes, so so you feel satisfied, you feel as if you know you're doing the right thing, kind of thing. Because you're going to write your own story. Yes, you can, and it doesn't have to be written all at once. You can just say, right from now on, I'm going to write or rewrite part of my story, and by rewriting we mean going back to the past moments that may have hurt you, as we were saying in the other episode. You know about emotional baggage and trying to see them through a different light, perhaps through a light of empathy or a different kind of seeing it in somebody else's shoes, as to speak. And you can go ahead like that, can't you? You can become the author of your own story, yeah, and step by step as well, day by day, even if it's something as simple, like you're living in a household that no one likes to work out, and you suddenly think you want to become fit and healthy. Well, you know, you can. You maybe you don't have to, you know publicize it, but you can just say in your mind, affirm in your mind that, day by day, I'm going to get fit and healthy and make those food choices and stop by, buy some healthy food, exactly. Make those changes, because you'll find that not everyone wants to be on the same journey that you're on, and you will have opposition to it. Yeah, especially when it comes to things like that, you know that you might be. Oh, come on, don't bother, sit down here, let's just, let's just have all the peace out, even coming to like, if you want to become, say, sober and you know people around you don't agree with you you know people around you don't don't agree with you, but that's especially. You know it's you have to think it's. This is my story. How do I want to live my life? And just go, go, go, go with it, go with it and be brave and make sure that you, you hold that pen in your hand and don't worry if you start writing it and then you don't know how it's going to turn out, but you can still write a few words every day. But you know you're on the right path. When, like what you said, you feel at peace and you feel inspired and you feel and excited, there's something exciting. I might be scared of this, but I'm excited at the same time because it's something exciting. I I, I might be scared of this, but I'm excited at the same time because it's something new and it's not in my comfort zone, because your comfort zone may have been some one that you've got used to now, that you're always repeating the same things that don't make you happy, and so, yeah, it could even be like a career change, couldn't it. You might be in a career that you're not really that happy with. Very often it's a career change and you can start with a side, you know, a side hustle, and then just take it from there, see how that goes, and then you know, maybe take some, do some more studying or something, but you will feel that it's you, it's something that you want to do, you that you want to do. You will feel good about it, you will in your heart of hearts. Absolutely so. Let us know what you think. Are you gonna start writing your own story? Or maybe you have been writing it for years and maybe you've had opposition? You can let us know it in the comments on youtube or on instagram, or send us a text on wherever you get your podcast and let us know you know what, what it's been like for you, because we are excited. We'd love to hear from you. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Bye, see you soon, bye-bye.