Golden Globes, People’s Choice, the Oscars. It’s the season for all the Hollywood movie awards ceremonies where actors are chosen as the “best” for their role in a movie. I was watching one last week and I started thinking about one of my favorite movies, The Holiday. Do you remember it?
The premise of the movie is that, for the Christmas holidays, Iris (Kate Winslet) swaps her English cottage with the California home of Amanda (Cameron Diaz), and vice versa. During her stay, Iris develops a charming relationship with Arthur (Eli Wallach) an old movie screenwriter. One night at dinner, Iris tells Arthur about her dysfunctional situation and sorry lovelife. While Iris is crying, Arthur stops her, saying, “This is not a hard one to figure out. Iris, in the movies we have leading ladies and we have the best friend. You, I can tell, are a leading lady, but for some reason you are behaving like the best friend.”
In your personal production calledd “My Life”, if you were winning an award, would it be as the Leading Lady? Or, would it be as Best Supporting player in the life of your spouse, kids, friends, co-workers?
Somehow women have gotten the message that being the supporting player is more worthy than being the Leading Lady. That the leading lady – at work or at home – means being X [the “b” word], and it’s selfish and self-centered.
That’s just not true.
Think Meryl Streep. Who could be more gracious and more successful as a leading lady than Meryl? Here’s what I think she does: she’s in charge of her personal and professional life, has her ups and downs (like we all do) and does it all by embracing her personal power without being self-focused. I think that’s because she:
- lives by her values
- knows what she wants and goes after it
- does her best
- strives to be gracious in the process and
- doesn’t let others distract her from those things that are important to her
How could that be wrong? If it’s not wrong for her, how could it be wrong for you? It isn’t!
As you think about the fresh canvas of a year in front of you, remember this: this life is your one and only show of shows. If you haven’t been taking the lead until now, 2013 is your year to step up into the role of leading lady!
Need help getting started? You can start with Dare to Dream – on sale until 1/23/13.
