“…I can only answer the question, ‘What am I to do?’ if I can answer the prior question, ‘Of what story or stories do I find myself a part?’” –Alistair MacIntyre, After Virtue1

It can be challenging to know what your next steps should be without first knowing where you’ve been and where you’d like to go. But if you think about your life in terms of the larger stories you’re a part of, you’ll be better prepared to make decisions you won’t later regret.

Now, if you’re part of a story, it means there’s more to it than just you. Others came before you, and others will follow you. And both these realities will affect how you view today’s decisions.

Knowing the story of those who came before you—your family, your country, the organizations you’re involved with, the religious or philosophical traditions you’re connected to—can provide valuable lessons and direction. You’ll discover what your forebears valued and how this impacted their decisions. You’ll find examples worth emulating and mistakes worth avoiding. With each successive generation, you’ll see patterns emerge and the story’s trajectory take shape. And all of this is valuable context for seeing how your actions today are moving each story forward.

Considering the broader contexts of your life will also lead you to consider what these stories look like after you’re gone. Where are they headed for those who come after you? Thinking about the long-term impact your actions will have on future generations—especially if you have kids or grandkids that will be affected—will cause you to see things in a different light than if you were only concerned about your own ease or enjoyment in the short-term. (The same is true for groups and organizations. A company thinking about 20, 50, or 100 years down the road will make different decisions than one that is only concerned about next quarter’s profits.)

Being aware of the stories you’re a part of doesn’t guarantee it will be easy to discern what to do next. But it does provide a much better context for making decisions than trying to do so in isolation. Your life is wrapped up in stories much bigger than you—stories that started before you arrived on the scene and will continue on long after you’re gone. And it’s in recognizing this fact that you gain the perspective you need for deciding how to live out your part in each of them.

  1.  Alasdair MacIntyre, After Virtue: A Study in Moral Theory, 3rd ed., 216. ↩︎