I've recently started the process of editing the second story of The Altered Realities. It's been difficult getting myself to do it because for some reason I imagine my story being a horrible wreck and I don't want to face it. However, once I start editing, I see that it isn't as bad as I imagined it would be.

Over the past several months I've learned the importance of being careful of what stories I tell myself. My brain tends to give back to me what I ask for. Like after an awkward social situation I may think, "I wonder what bad things that person is probably thinking about me?" Then my brain immediately has a list of all the bad things others could be thinking about me, and I feel like I want to hide under a rock.

On the other side of things, if I asked myself what good things someone else could be thinking about me, my mind will give me a list of positive things. It's amazing how my mind is so unhinged from reality, especially when making guesses about the unknown such as what others think of me or the future.

How I end up feeling comes down to which story I believe. Should I go with the positive one full of hope or the dark negative one that makes me wonder why I should even try? In the past, I've always gone with the negative one because it seemed more realistic, but I've paid for it by having emotional health problems. Lately, I've been picking more of the positive ones. At times I may question their realism, but they are way more helpful. I still pay attention to the negative stories, but more and more I've been choosing hope over despair. It's more helpful to focus on what's going right and what can be better, than getting lost in what's going wrong.

Any story can be edited or seen from a different POV. Even the ones I make up about myself and the way I experience life.



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The Altered Realities of a Dream-maker: Jellyfish Dreams is now available for preorder from Amazon and Smashwords. The official release date is August 31st! 👍