What better day to talk about Designing Your Life On Purpose than on Groundhog Day!
A movie that faithfully gets watched year after year is Groundhog Day starring Bill Murray. It’s about a cynical weather man named Phil Connors who is sent to Pennsylvania to report on whether Punxsutawney Phil, the predicting groundhog, will see his shadow. In a quirky turn of events, Phil (the human), is forced to live the same day over and over and over again.
No matter what he does, he can’t change his circumstances. Every day it's the same thing; being awakened by Sonny and Cher singing “I Got You Babe”, the same annoying insurance salesman, stepping in the same slush-filled pothole and on and on it goes.
When he discovers he's in this do-loop of the never-ending day he goes mad! No matter what he does he keeps waking up to the same day. He lets his gluttonous, dare-devil side take the wheel but nothing changes. Then he tries to better himself by learning to play the piano, to quote French poetry and even to ice sculpt but nothing changes.
No matter what he does, nothing changes for poor Phil.
Nothing changes . . . until it does.
One of the reasons this movie has such lasting appeal is we can identify with the purgatory of living the same day over and over. We've all been there where life is laborious and predictable. Yuck! We're also drawn to this story because it shows us the possibility and the hope that is ours if we show up and really want to be happy.
We root for Phil to find himself because we want that same thing. We want to find love and connection, to live a life of meaning and purpose.
At least that’s my take on it.
(No surprise there . . . my whole mission is to help people get out of their own Groundhog Day HELL, am I right?)
So, on Groundhog Day 2022, I ask you. . .
Are you living some version of the same lack-luster day over and over and over?
Are there parts of your life that are BEGGING for some attention? Some tweaking? Some TLC but you keep choosing to ignore them?
Are you waiting for something to change so YOU can change? For example, waiting for the pandemic to be over, for your kids to leave the nest, for the scales to have a different number, for the economy to be better, etc?
If you answered “Yes” to any of those, sit down cuz I’m gonna lay some preachin’ on ya!
You will not accidentally create the life you want.
No one is going to come to you and give you all of your desires.
Nothing will change until you take 100% responsibility for yourself.
The good news? This is not as hard as it sounds.
Okay, it may be sorta hard because change is never super easy. But isn't your happiness worth a bit of effort? I sure think so!
What if you picked one thing, ONE THING, that you will do differently starting today? One behavior you currently do over and over and over (like Phil stepping into the icy pothole) that you will STOP doing? Or maybe it's one thing you will start doing. Something you've been postponing.
How might it feel to change one thing that moves you toward your ideal life?
Don't think too big here. Choose one small thing and prove to yourself you can change. What if you . . .
put your phone down 30 minutes before bed?
hang your coat up when you come home instead of tossing it on the floor?
sign up for the art class you've been eyeing?
talk to your family during dinner instead of looking at your device?
read for 15 minutes every morning?
get up when the alarm sounded?
remove simple sugar from your diet?
write your goals down and read them every day?
Email me at cheri@cherihoneycutt.com. I mean it, email me! I’d LOVE to hear what you're doing or not doing.
XO and Happy Groundhog Day!