Remember that final scene from the movie Pretty Woman? Where Richard Gere pulls up in that white limousine with flowers in hand like the knight in shining armor? Julia Roberts hears the beeping horn, pokes her head through the window to see him downstairs. He proceeds to climb the ladder on the side of her tower (apartment) and with orchestral music in the background; they proceed to give each other the kiss of life right there on that ladder. Remember that???? (Julia Roberts literally put our hearts in her pocket from that movie.)Well, turns out the Pretty Woman movie had an original alternative ending. Yup...and it wasn’t pretty. The original/alternative ending in the original script was that Richard Gere’s character drives Julia Robert’s character back to her neighborhood, drags her kicking and screaming from his car, hands her an envelope of cash, and coldly drives off while she hysterically cries in the street. Yea…we like the prettier one better.What about The Lion King? Remember that fight scene where Simba fights Scar and throws him off a cliff to be eaten by hyenas? That was the theatrical ending (what we saw in the theaters). Well, there was an alternative ending. The alternative ending  (although never fully animated) was to have Scar actually defeat Simba, throw him off Pride Rock but become engulfed in flames himself as he laughed at Simba’s fall.Many Many Many movies have alternate endings. It happens ALL the time in Hollywood where the original script is changed (even mid-production) for some reason or the other. The studio executives didn’t like it, the test audience didn’t like it, it didn’t properly set the tone for a sequel, it was too socially sensitive and for a host of other possible reasons, it is rewritten and remade into the version we end up seeing in the theaters.This is a great life lesson.

Think about the High School or the community you grew up in...think about all the people you knew a long time ago and who they have become now. I am sure that there are many cases of alternate endings.

Bullies who thought they were gods in High School becoming bottom feeders today, nerds becoming billionaires, beauty queens with nasty attitudes back then in humbling states now…life is funny that way.

People who lived just streets from you as a child but you end up meeting in another state or country as adults…people who study sciences but end up doing great work in the arts and artists who end up becoming freedom fighters.

Think about it…people who were so sweet as kids…given the best of everything life has to offer so that they can positively impact the world and do some good, but ended up being tyrants… people who were written off as no-good or not good enough turning out to be gifts and blessings to the whole world…or even some who were considered “just like anyone else” but turned out to be magnificent.

Look these images closely. I wonder if there were indications as to how these people would turn out later.

Top left: Vladimir Putin as a teenager (2nd from the left in a hat)
Bottom Left: Bill Gates at High School Graduation
Bottom Right: Barack Obama with his High School basketball team
Top Right: Osama Bin Laden on a family vacation to Sweden as a youngster

I wonder how their friends treated them. Can you imagine being the guy that bullied Bill Gates in High School? Can you imagine being a girl in Sweden looking at Osama and thinking “OMG he is sooo cute”

Alternate endings.

This is the story of our lives.

So what’s your story? Are you living the positive alternative to what people thought you’d be? Or are you living the negative alternative?

If you weren’t even considered good enough to be added in the script…to be put in the movie…to be given a prediction…if you were JUST there, are you writing a fascinating story with your life now?

If people saw you (who haven’t seen you since you were much younger) today, what would they say? Would they say that you are living the positive version of you that they always imagined, or would they say that you are living that negative version they always knew you were? Would they say that you are living a positive alternative to the negative version they wrote for you?

You have time to change as long as you start changing now

Even if people never considered you, consider yourself. Even if they had high expectations of you but your current life is not meeting those expectations, redefine your expectations for yourself and pursue those with vigor.

Of course this isn’t about being rich or achieving political power. It’s about living a life that is the best version of yourself. It is about doing the things today that will create a tomorrow you can be proud of.

The question is…who is your life’s script writer? Who is writing the story of your life so it unfolds the right way?

Sure there is a theatrical ending that people see, (money, fame, power, accolades, and things) and those are great. But what about that deeply MEANINGFUL alternative ending that is not for show, not for money, not to please the crowd, but to be impactful?

That type of alternate ending is a GOD THING and the more you partner with him as your script writer, the more you can rest assured that the end of your life will be the right ending.

It’s about believing that your story is not yet finished.

It’s about believing that there is a greater version of yourself that is yet to be discovered, and striving to meet that version. That’s what IJustMetMe is all about. Some sources that helped to write this:-http://magazine.foxnews.com/celebrity/10-popular-movies-nearly-had-completely-different-endings- http://www.ranker.com/list/the-15-most-fascinating-alternate-endings-to-famous-movies/jf-sargent?page=1-http://news.distractify.com/culture/x-history-photos/?v=1