Living Benjamin âButtonneslyâ...
I sat my behind down on my plush but semi-comfy couch readying myself to watch a movie I had been procrastinating on for years. My fake red âvelvetyâ blanket on my lap, and a bag of homemade popcorn seasoned with Himalayan salt & some caramel on hand. I couldnât contain my excitement any longer. âThe Curious Case of Benjamin Button,â has been on my âto watch listâ for quite sometime now.
Yes, I know. I may be a little under 12 years too late in watching it since its official release in theaters in December 2008. However, I can almost guarantee that in 1922 when author F. Scott Fitzgerald first published a short story with the same title, he wasnât thinking that a young man almost 100 years later will be finding literal lessons in this weird but powerful story.
Aside from the obvious near impossible body reversal ordeal the main character underwent ever happening in what we know as real life, the implications presented through his life journey ought to (at the very least) challenge us to live our lives âButtonnesquely FULLy.â How this looks like is unique to each & every one of us but the foundation of it needs to be constant: use fear as a CRUTCH and not as a barrier to living - however cliche as that may seem.
Our lives ought to be filled with daring experiences of highs & lows instead of playing it safe all of the time. We should strive for teachable mistakes type of scenarios as these enable us to be more open for newer ventures as opposed to sitting out. In showcasing experiences of lost love, our lives need to reflect & allow for softened hearts to prevail even as we fight to navigate through hurtful pains. This is living as it forces us to break down hardened emotions which, more times than weâd like to admit, they transform us in to people we canât stand once in the safety of our own solitary moments. I urge us to fight to fill our lives with more memories created in lessons learned as opposed to lingering on regrets on âwhat ifâ type of situations.
At the very least, we each owe this to ourselves because then, what is living if not the chance to be the very best version of ourselves at whatever stage we find ourselves in? This, we should seek to choose 9/10 times as opposed to functioning on survival mode due to fear of not living to other peopleâs standards. Your joy, your peace of mind and your happiness is warranted. Do not silence that voice.
âFor what itâs worth: itâs never too late or, in my case, too early to be whoever you want to be. Thereâs no time limit, stop whenever you want. You can change or stay the same, there are no rules to this thing. We can make the best or the worst of it. I hope you make the best of it. And I hope you see things that startle you. I hope you feel things you never felt before. I hope you meet people with a different point of view. I hope you live a life youâre proud of. If you find that youâre not, I hope you have the courage to start all over again.â
â Eric Roth, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button Screenplay
(PS: If we are alike, you then know that failure to adhere to this principle is imminent more times than we hope for. However, the action of trying should ALWAYS encourage us all to be persistent even in hurtful situations such as lost jobs, failed relationships, broken promises etc.)