The World's Fast Indian

I sit here writing this as my husband watches his favourite movie for the 1 millionth time (slight exaggeration), “The World’s Fastest Indian”.  I am not quite sure what it is about this movie that resonates with him so much, but he has watched it over and over again.  He calls me into the lounge room to watch certain favourite parts.  I think he likes the innocence and irony of the movie.  The ability for someone older to achieve their life long goal, while maintaining that sense of humour only us Aussies or Kiwi’s can.  I must admit I often have a tear in my eye when Burt Munroe returns to Invercargill after he has achieved his dream of breaking the speed record.

I have a client who owns a few Indian motor cycles.  I hope that one day my client and my husband meet.  I am sure that the Indian will be a lovely connection between the two of them.   

It makes me think of the few shows I can watch time and time again.  I am sure we all have one or two that we just can’t pass by when we flick through the Foxtel channels.  There are a couple of movies I can’t pass up – Sweet Home Alabama, The Holiday, Love Actually and Top Gun.  I am also a fan of American political dramas, particularly the West Wing.  However, my all-time favourite show without doubt is Sex in the City.

Sarah Jessica Parker, how I love thee!  Anyone who is in their 40’s or older surely watched this show, and perhaps loved it as much as I did.  We all knew which character we were most like, or perhaps we had a bit of all of the characters in our repertoire?  Carrie, Samantha, Charlotte & Miranda.  The quintessential independent women who had control of their lives and were successful in their careers.  Any wonder we loved these women!

Twenty years later I can watch the shows and still relate to them.  The fashions may have changed, but their honest conversations are still relevant today.  These are MY women, they grew up in MY time.  A time when there was no such word as “sexting” and honest conversations about personal things like sex just did not happen.  I learned so much from these shows.  We did not have those conversations with our girlfriends back in those days.  “Sex in the City” gave us permission to have those conversations. 

Now I am going to let you in on a little secret.  I once did some life coaching and part of my course was to think of my characters in life and give them names.  Depending on your situation you act differently, and if you can channel a character, take on their characteristics, that can work well for you.  I embraced this concept.  I guess it is not surprise who some of my characters are.

Carrie – when I want to be creative and write, I channel Carrie.  I like to wear clothes like Carrie, think like Carrie and write like Carrie.  She is definitely my favourite character and the one I aspire to the most.  She is so opposite to me, creative and free spirited, yet that I identify so well with her.    

Samantha – There are parts of Samantha that are not like me ( I will leave that to your imagination), but I love Samantha’s strength of character and confidence.  I lack both of those but when I need to put my big girl pants on I channel my inner Samantha. 

Charlotte – Although I hate to admit it, I am probably more like Charlotte than any other character.  I am the eternal goody two shoes.  I am a bit of a prude.  I dream of the perfect life.  Charlotte challenges me to step outside of my comfort zone simply because I don’t want to be as similar to Charlotte as I am.   

Miranda – My identification with Miranda is based on her professionalism.  Miranda is the lawyer (I am the accountant).  We believe we can be the career women and have it all.  We understand that we sometimes need to forgo the glamour to be taken seriously.    

I have a few other non-Sex in the City characters but it is amazing how much this one show has impacted my life.  Great shows give us life-long lessons.  We watch them time and time again to remind us of those lessons.  Whether it be the resilience of breaking the speed record on an Indian, or the honest relationship we girls can have with our best friends, the lessons are authentic.  That is what makes these shows stand out from the crowd.

Put your heels on and drink a Cosmopolitan. Let’s thank our favourite fictional characters for the lessons they have taught us and how they have impacted our lifes.