Be INVINCIBLE to Failure

Series:  Watching Movies  from a Different Perspective

There’s a saying that “if one person can do it, so can you.”  But if we’re in “melt-down” or the “in-between” or that space in life where “nothing we do is working”, we need more than that to be persuaded.  That’s when watching movies about characters overcoming their failures can be a lifesaver–like the film INVINCIBLE.

I get a rush just looking at the cover of this movie because I’ve seen it so many times and it triggers those moments when the character, VINCE, somehow keeps going despite so many “failures”:

• He arrives at his classroom to discover that someone with seniority survived the cuts and has taken his job teaching.
• When he goes home, his wife of five years berates him for playing “street football” with his friends, some of whom are also out of work.
• He can’t pay his rent and has to ask his dad for help.
• After five years of marriage, his wife not only does not support him emotionally, she leaves him, taking everything with her.

But when he’s working at the bar where his friends hang out, the new coach of the Philadelphia Eagles makes a TV announcement about one day of try-outs for Eagles fans.  Most of his friends say he should do it!  But his dad and the guy who lost his job say no, pointing out how he’d only feel worse.

The others say, what can it hurt?  Even if he doesn’t make the first cut, it’s still the chance of a lifetime to be on the field with the team they love, right?

But he has more than good friends going for him.  When his wife left, she left a note behind, the last words he would hear from her:

Vince,

You’ll never go anywhere.
You’ll never make any money
and you’ll never make a name for yourself.

And he carried that talisman with him to the try-out to read before he goes on the field every single day until he blasts through the limitations of judgments and negative comments.

Remember?  If one person can do it, so can you.  If you’re feeling like a failure, that no matter what you do you can’t seem to change your experience, watching INVINCIBLE might be the lift you need.

But if you take notes it can be so much more than that.  When you’re in the “in between” you need a model, someone to show you how to handle digging yourself out of the pit.  Watch how Vince handles his rocky road while pursuing his dream against all odds, including the team who doesn’t want him there.  And take notes!

Related:

• Mirrors of Life on the Screen
• Love Affair with Movies
• Feeling Frustrated? Try SHOOTER!
• Determine What You Want In Your Partner
• Elizabethtown (Movie)

Till  next time,

Please be kind to everyone you meet, for we all have our hidden sorrows. ~Tzaddi