Life and movie trailers.
One of my favorite things about going to the movies is being able to watch all the trailers. A two minute highlight reel of possibilities and potential. A glimpse of what could end up being one of the greatest movies of all time or a box office bust. Often, you an tell which one is which by the trailer. The romance, the plot twists and the fast paced action all capsulated in a 2 minute package that is meant to bring you in and leave you wanting more. Or at least give you enough time to pee or get napkins for the popcorn before the good stuff start happening.
If your life was a movie what would be in your trailer?
With the recent events of my life and the latest themes of my blogs, you can probably tell that I have mortality and legacy on the brain. Often I get caught up with a particular topic and I find myself thinking and blogging about it until I feel I have hit all the angles. When you look back at your life and imagine it being made into a movie one day, what would make the highlight reel?
Your first kiss? Graduation? Getting married? Having kids? Would these events make your movie trailer? What events have occurred in your life that would be worthy of others plopping down $10 bucks to watch it? $13 if its in 3D…
Yet, life isn’t a highlight reel is it? It’s not a series of huge events jam packed into 2 minutes. Life is a series of little moments that wouldn’t and couldn’t be understood by a theatre full of people. Life is the small stuff. The glue. The epoxy that connects the big moments and holds them together. Never has there ever been a movie created that was 100% factual about anyone’s life. None of us are that interesting.
So, the question…what’s your epoxy?
Between the boring stuff and epic moments, what kind of life are you leading? Are you taking in the little moments and seeing the value in the events that are not aligned with grand gestures and celebration?
Sure, if I were to be found on my death bed, I would certainly remember the big events in my life, but I would also recall more small moments. In the same moment I would recall a huge event like my wedding day-I would also recall, with great detail…pushing my kids on a swing, my daughter’s first joke, my son’s face when he eats something spicy, the first time my wife called me by my nickname and the time my brother broke my bike or chased my sister around with the yellow towel. These moments aren’t worthy of a highlight reel and they certainly, if glued together, wouldn’t make you want to go see the movie version of my life. To me, these are just some the little events I can describe in great detail. Odd that the big moments don’t allow you to take everything in, but the “smaller” ones give you the capacity to remember simple elements that are unique and “yours”.
Take advantage of the moments of epoxy. The big events are wonderful and important, but you will find that they are not as impacting as the events that would end up on the cutting room floor. The real moments are the things that very few people would relate to or understand. It’s the dialogue and the smaller set up “scenes” that truly make the difference in living a life or having a life worth living.
My incredibly blessed life would have the most amazingly boring trailer and I think that is awesome.
The end. Roll the credits. Remember to dispose of your half eaten vat of popcorn and your $15 drink. If you read this in 3D, you got ripped off and you look like an idiot…take the glasses off before you walk outside.
#movies #ironman #wedding #trailers
