Have you ever come away from watching a movie and thought ‘that’s me’ maybe you’re drawn to understanding the plight of the character through the story or you’re inspired by what they manage to achieve by the time it reaches the conclusion.
And this is the point, most movies involve a protagonist having to take action in order for the movie to end but as people we sometimes tend not to take the action needed to make changes in life, especially when it comes to our love lives, we might be truly inspired by what we see on the screen but procrastinate about what we need to do to make it happen.
Let’s take a typical rom-com, the protagonist has a dilemma, they take action and then end up with the love life they want – the hardest part of this is not necessarily the dilemma, painful as it is, it’s about making the commitment to take action – perhaps then this is about being open to thinking differently about how you can do it so it doesn’t seem impossible.
So let’s give it a try – most movies are split into three parts, see if you recognize yourself in any of these stages and if so do you think you’re able to have a go a mimicking movie characters behaviours?

The Opening – involves the crisis or shows what someone truly wants, it’s emotionally led and designed to hook you in as you want to know what the character does – this part may resonate with something you’re going through or behaviours that you or a partner are displaying.

The Middle – is the longest part of the movie as this is the ‘learning bit’ as the character will need to take onboard new behaviours in order to change their situation and dependent on the personality of the character this can either look like a softening or hardening of their character, maybe they don’t give some people a chance or maybe they are too soft with some people. It means taking a step back and looking at yourself which is not always comfortable but movies provide a safe space in order to view your good side as well as your dark side.

The End – involves using what you’ve learned for instance how to be assertive or how to have some compassion so you can seal the deal or you may have recognized that you need to change who you attach to in the first place.

If you want to have a go yourself then check out the characters approach to romance when you next watch a rom-com or your favourite movie – you don’t need to dive in head first just take some tentative steps towards either speaking up for yourself or showing some kindness and see what reaction you get from others, it might just help you out of a difficult situation.