Soap Operas

Quote of Today

☀️ Happy Sunday Little by Little community. Here's a thought provoking question for you: Is what you are about to do today connected to what you are going to value over the long term?

🤓 On today's agenda:

• 4 Larger-Than-Life Lessons From Soap Operas by Kate Adams (TEDTalk)

• Featured article about decision making by Lillian McCallum (a friend of ours!)

⚡️Focus of Today

Soap opera characters are larger than life. Their shows are filled with melodramatic scenes and exaggerations. Soap operas reflect life - just bigger.

Here are four surprising things that Kate Adams says we can learn from soap operas.

1. Embrace the drama 🎭

Our lives can feel as dramatic as soap operas. Characters loop and swerve through life and obstacles. Kate says we should believe in our capacity for handling adversity.

2. Stand up to your problems 💪

Take inspiration from Erica Kane from "All My Children," The Soap Star, in a scene face to face with a grizzly bear. She screams “you are a filthy beast” at the bear (here is the amazing clip on youtube All My Children: Erica and The Bear). Guess what? The bear leaves. She stood up to the bear just like we can stand up to our problems.

3. Sacrifice your ego 🌟

Stephanie Forrester from "The Bold and the Beautiful'' can show us that life isn't about one person; it's about us. In the show, Forrester didn't mix with the “riff raff” of the valley. She made sure “valley girl Brook” knew it. But after 25 years of fighting, they made amends and became soul mates, best of friends. (Spoiler alert) Forrester ends up dying in Brooks' arms at the end of the show. Drop your ego.

4. Embrace evolution 💡

In television, static = boring = canceled TV show. Characters experience growth and change. In soaps, it's common that the same role is played by different actors between seasons. Like soap opera characters, we can change, evolve, and open ourselves to new opportunities.

5. Resurrection is possible 🔄

Just like Stefano Dimera from "Days of Our Lives” who keeps coming back despite being killed off 5 times, nothing is permanent. Life is like a soap opera – endings can become beginnings, and dramatic comebacks are always possible (unless the show gets canceled).

📖 Content Feature

We're super excited to feature our first guest on Little By Little, Lillian McCallum!

Ever struggle with making a key life decision?

Even the smallest decisions can be hard.

This week, Lillian wrote about her personal story for a big decision she faced in recent months. She shares her guiding principle for decision making!

Lillian struggled with the choice between going on exchange to Australia or accepting a job offer in Vancouver. With such a big decision there are 1000 different things to consider.

So how did she make the choice?

Article Snippet…

Should I get eggs? Plus other decisions I’ve made

Link to Lillian's full post

I’m standing in the self-checkout line, there’s roughly eight or nine people in front of me. I gently place my grocery basket on the speckled floor, it’s pretty heavy. The hard plastic handle leaves a red streak on my palm. I eye my basket’s contents while I wait in line; a couple tomatoes, three under ripe bananas, a red mesh bag full of onions… wait, I think, should I get eggs? I imagine the muffins I bought last week, lounging in my fridge and waiting to be eaten. I decide that I don’t need the eggs. Though thoughts of spinach and feta omelettes make me rethink my decision. I look up at the line ahead of me, I count three people… and now two. It’s too late, I’m already too close to checkout. I leave the grocery store and walk to the bus stop, squinting to look at the bus times, “7 minutes”, it reads. Damn, I should have just gotten some eggs.

…

Click here to read the full article. (it's really really good)

With love,

— Amir and Erik

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