lady bird

It’s movie award season and the competition is tough this year! There are so many great ones, I figured the theme for the next few weeks can be nominated films. These will be in no particular order! I have no favorite yet and don’t make me choose…it’s too hard! Let’s start with Lady Bird, hot off its Golden Globe wins for Best Actress and Best Musical or Comedy and multiple Oscar nominations, including Best Picture. (Slight spoilers ahead, so read cautiously if you haven’t seen it yet!)

The film’s success comes at no surprise to me because it is such a treat to watch. This is mostly due to the great performances by Saoirse Ronan, who plays Christine “Lady Bird” McPherson, and Laurie Metcalf, who plays her mother, Marion McPherson. These two main characters are living representations of our own minds when dealing with change. Lady Bird, who wants to escape Sacramento and go to an out-of-state college, represents the side of ourselves that wants change. Marion McPherson, on the other hand, who wants Lady Bird to be financially realistic and stay near home, represents the side that wants to play it safe and protect from disappointment. We watch this friction comically play out on screen, but it’s also what we go through in our heads. We are at war with ourselves internally and it keeps us stuck, preventing us from making the changes we want.

It reminds me of a few years ago, when I desperately wanted a career change. In order to do this, it meant going back to school and investing a lot of time and money into something I wasn’t 100% sure would work out. One side needed a change in order to feel fulfilled. The other side wanted to play it safe and not end up in another career I hated or worse, broke and homeless. My two sides were battling it out and I was going nowhere. To resolve this, both sides had to come to an understanding of the other’s needs. I was going to make this change, but to appease the Marion side, I did a little more research and compromised with a smarter, more doable option. My Lady Bird side understood and appreciated the protection and was able to move forward with confidence.

This moment of realization for Lady Bird and Marion plays out beautifully in the film. I’ll let you discover that for yourself if you haven’t already, but I hope finding that middle ground will help make change possible for you, as well.

With that, this eagle has landed! Until next time, consider these questions to help you take the leap and soar:

What change are you hoping to make?
What’s keeping you from making that change?
What can you appreciate about that resistance?
What can the resistance appreciate about your need to change?
How can you come to a middle ground for both sides to move forward?