The True Lessons of Groundhog Day…
Same shit, different day; Or is it?
Okay, campers, rise and shine, and don’t forget your booties ’cause it’s cooooold out there today…
That’s right, woodchuck-chuckers — it’s…
GROUNDHOG DAY!
Every year on February 2nd I watch the movie Groundhog Day.
There’s clearly a bit of comedic irony involved in that choice, but just as some of us love to re-read a favorite book each year, I find I notice new details, focus on different things, and learn new lessons each time.
Heraclitus said, “No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man.”
Every time I come back to Phil and his adventures I come back with another year under my belt, a year of reading, learning, experimenting, and of course making my own twisted versions of Phil’s mistakes.
I’m not the same man.
As a result it’s not the same movie, even though I know all the jokes.
Phil: Do you ever have déjà vu, Mrs. Lancaster?
Mrs. Lancaster: I don’t think so, but I could check with the kitchen.
Shift Your Focus
On the surface Groundhog Day is a classic comedy and there’s plenty to laugh at given Bill Murray’s dry, perfectly-timed performance.
Look a little deeper and it’s a classic redemption story, the story of a man transformed by love.
For the first decade or so I watched, laughed, and nodded along with Phil as he transformed each year, never taking much more than laughs away.
Each year I watched him go from a self-centered ass to someone trying to game his way into Rita’s bed to someone who gives up and tries to quit the game entirely.
“I have been stabbed, shot, poisoned, frozen, hung, electrocuted, and burned.”
Only after passing through that crucible does Phil eventually begin to transform into someone who focuses his gift of time on serving others.
The more he shifts his focus away from self-centered outcomes the more he comes to know true peace.
Rita: It’s beautiful. I don’t know what to say.
Phil: I do. Whatever happens tomorrow, or for the rest of my life, I’m happy now… because I love you.
For much of my life I have to admit I tended to look at each day from the perspective of “What’s in it for me?”.
Like Phil, my life became a far more interesting and fulfilling story when I shifted to wondering “How can I help?”
Learning to pivot your focus from yourself to others is a superpower.
Easy Lessons
Watching Phil’s evolution brings a few obvious life lessons to mind:
- It’s not smart to be an ass.
- Don’t try to game people.
- Focus on giving, not taking.
If all you did was embody those three values each day you’d be a powerful role model and on an authentic path to peace.
Living a life driven entirely by selfishness is, ironically, one of the best ways to ensure you never find true happiness.
Dig deeper and there are plenty of reminders to live in the moment.
Deeper Lessons
A second set of Phil’s life lessons would have to include:
- Each day might be your last
“Well, what if there is no tomorrow? There wasn’t one today.”
- Create great memories
“I was in the Virgin Islands once. I met a girl. We ate lobster, drank piña coladas. At sunset we made love like sea otters. That was a pretty good day.”
- Watching [or reading] isn’t living
“This is one time where television really fails to capture the true excitement of a large squirrel predicting the weather.”
That last one really strikes home for me.
Far too many of us seem to think following other people’s lives on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram somehow equates to living.
Or that reading a hundred books a year somehow does.
They don’t.
I was brought up to get good grades, aim for college, study hard.
As a result I spent a large part of my early life watching, reading, studying.
The thing is…
All the observation in the world doesn’t make up for real experiences with real people in real places.
Living well requires getting dirty in the real world.
The Real Lesson
Phil: What would you do if you were stuck in one place and every day was exactly the same, and nothing that you did mattered?
Ralph: That about sums it up for me.
Groundhog Day’s ground rules for Phil are that each day when he wakes up the world around him is exactly the same.
Same hotel. Same cold water shower. Same guy at the top of the stairs:
“Don’t mess with me, pork chop…”
Most of the movie plays off the idea nothing ever changes.
But that’s not true…
Each day actually is changing… because HE is changing.
He’s not the same man, and hence, it’s not the same river.
Everything different, everything that changes, everything that allows Phil to experience different results between Day 1 and Day 10,000 is the result of how Phil approaches his “Same shit, different day”.
Rita: “Sometimes I wish I had a thousand lifetimes. I don’t know, Phil. Maybe it’s not a curse. Just depends on how you look at it.”
That’s the lesson I believe matters most.
You’re In Control
Just like us, Phil is in control the whole time.
He’s in control of the only things that truly matter: his mind, his emotions, his actions, his response to his predicament.
He’s in control of his ability to change, grow, and create new results.
So many of us wake up feeling trapped in our own version of Groundhog Day. We even joke about it over the water-cooler.
The reality is we, like Phil, have the opportunity to take seemingly identical circumstances and respond to them in better and better ways.
We have the opportunity to adapt until we find what works for us.
Life is going to present us with the same problems, wearing different disguises, until we find solutions.
Or, more positively, life will present us with the same opportunities.
If we think we’re trapped, if we believe “nothing we do matters”, we’re missing the real opportunity life is offering us. The same opportunity it offered Phil with every “Rise and shine!”.
Each morning gives us the gift of a new day in which to experiment, to try, to fail, to explore, to grow, and ultimately to find our best selves.
Whether we experience Day 1 ten-thousand times over or enjoy each day as a new, baby-stepped, advancement over yesterday is entirely up to us.
So Rise and Shine woodchuck-chucker…
You’ve got this!!!
ss
Author’s Note:
I published this article just before the Super Bowl kickoff… and a few hours later Jeep® kindly aired what I can only describe as “the abbreviated video summary”. Thanks Jeep for making my points so hilariously ! ;)
