This weekend, my sweetheart and I saw Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, a new movie starring writer, producer and actor Tina Fey as New York City journalist Kim Baker, who takes a 3-month assignment in Afghanistan. Based on a true story, the film shows Fey arriving in Kabul and entering into the surreal world of correspondents who dance and drink by night, and put their lives in harm’s way by day. Frightened and unnerved, she confesses to her New York boyfriend that she just can’t do it.
Yet during her first assignment while she’s embedded in a combat zone, she captures a major story. She is thrilled and can’t wait for her next opportunity. Instead of eschewing this bizarre world that had seemed dangerous, illogical and almost insane, she embraces it, taking on increasingly hazardous assignments.
Her friend Tanya reminds her that, while in NY she might be considered a 5 or 6 (referring to her attraction quotient), in Kabul or in the “Kabubble” she is at least a 9 ½. Kim Baker’s assignment extends another six months, then a year, another year and yet another. She no longer sees the craziness of the Kabubble but finds herself doing things that, at one point, she would have considered unacceptable.
Through a series of events and the words of a wise local guide, she realizes it’s time to leave – but it’s not easy.
The movie reminded me how easy it is for any of us to fall into a trance about our current situation. A trance in which we fail to notice that the temporary and unacceptable have become the established and accepted. It may be a relationship, a workplace situation, or a habit we’ve been meaning to break. It may be the state of our house, our budget or our health.
And we, like Kim Baker, have found a way to justify and normalize what is not normal or acceptable to our best selves. Have there been “good reasons”? Of course. Are they still valid? Maybe not.
So this week examine your life choices – with compassion please. Are there things that have become “normal” for you that no longer serve you? Where you have been willing to accept the unacceptable? And when you find them, tell yourself you can make a change, then take the first step.
Let me know what you discover and how it goes. I’m cheering for you to escape the bubble.
Until next Tuesday,
Elizabeth