Living The Life You Want

Up In The Air

"How much did they pay you to give up on your dreams?"

It's the central question in one of the best scenes in Up In The Air, one of this year's movies nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture. 

Corporate consultant-hatchet man Ryan talks with Bob, whom he's just told is losing his job and Bob's not too happy.  Ryan is suddenly philosophical, reminding this pissed off stranger that he minored in French Culinary Arts and bussed tables at a fine Italian restaurant to support himself in school.  When he got out of college he took a dead-end white collar job that he just lost after years without much success.

"At what point were you going to stop and go back to what made you happy?" Ryan asks.  "I see guys who work for the same company their entire lives.  Clock in.  Clock out.  Never a moment of happiness.  Not everyone gets this kind of opportunity.  The chance for rebirth."

It's a classic call to adventure for Bob.  He's a fictitious character, but I'm sure that scene has sent chills down the spine of many in audiences around the world.  For some, Ryan's remarks may be about a job, for others they may be about unsatisfying relationships, and for still others they may be about a loss of energy and enthusiasm for life in general.   

Early in the conversation, Ryan lets Bob know he's not a shrink, he's "a wakeup call." 

And so he is.  For all of us.

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Bite-Sized Commitment: An Hour A Day

I finally saw the movie Julie & Julia.  I'm always wary to assume anything presented as "Based on a true story" (or in this case "Based on two true stories") is factually correct, but I do assume the real Julie Powell made a commitment over 365 days to cook 524 recipes from Julia Child's book Mastering the Art of French Cooking, created a blog, surprisingly gained a following, spurred further interest in Julia Child and her cooking, attracted a book agent and later saw her book become part of a movie.

What I found interesting is how simply committing to a process and combining things she had natural interest in (she loved to cook and she was an aspiring writer) led to such an extraordinary life adventure.  Her commitment, I'm sure, consumed hours of her days shopping for the right food, actually preparing the meals, eating and writing about her experience.  That's probably more than most of us are able to take on, especially with kids.  Julie Powell had a supportive husband who was also involved in helping her succeed, and no one to parent but herself.

But don't we all have an hour a day to do something we love?  It may require one less hour of sleep, or it simply may require setting a boundary with the rest of the world and making a commitment to the idea that whatever meaning you find in your activity is valuable.  I'm pretty sure if everyone gave an hour a day to something uniquely meaningful to them, something that develops a sense of accomplishment over time, the world would be a much happier place.

Adding to my own happiness, I'm going with the family today down to the National Museum of American History.  I'm sure we'll spend plenty of time at the Julia Child exhibit.

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