Sugar High

“my fear became boring to me…because it was the same thing every day.“

Elizabeth Gilbert, Big Magic

Song: Why Do You Talk To Me? by Quinn XCII (pronounced Quinn 92)

Article: Researchers have followed over 700 people since 1938 to find the keys to happiness. Here’s what they discovered by Alexa Mikhail

Thought: I actually had this blog written last week but I didn’t like it. I stewed on it all week to figure out how to make it better. If you are taking the time to read my work, that’s my gift to you. You deserve better than my first drafts.

One of my absolute favorite movies is Empire Records. It’s a great coming of age movie from the 90’s with a bunch of famous people (Liv Tyler, Renée Zellweger, Robin Tunney, Ethan Embry). It has a ton of memorable one liners – “Damn the Man, save the Empire”, “My names not Warren”, “What’s with today, today?” The scene that captures me every time is when Zellweger’s character Gina sings the song “Sugar High” at the end.

After admitting to a lot of fear, she sings in front of the crowd and lets loose. You can see all the emotions in realtime – fear, uncertainty, joy, satisfaction. It’s the culmination of her character arc from insecure, people-pleaser to confident, courageous woman. We all want our “Gina” moment.

For me, this scene feels really personal. It’s very unfulfilling to be the person everyone else wants you to be or expects you to be. When I act like someone I am not it never turns out well. I say or do hurtful things. I live outside my values only to cringe upon reflection.

My friend Stephanie told me my passion is like the sun – everyone likes it but too much is a sunburn. I really feel like I’ve been giving out a lot of sunburns lately while I burn myself out. Gina had the same problem. Until she chose not to. Then she had her moment.