Self-Discovery

Have you stopped to think what makes you choose and enjoy the TV series or movies you select? 

Is it about passing time, finding entertainment, learning, getting informed, you identify yourself with a story, adventure…? Well there may be many reasons.

This week talking to one of my coaching colleagues, I realized how much the shows we choose and enjoy reveal our beliefs and values.  It is a great way to know ourselves and others.

Let me give you an example.  I love the series “La Reina del Sur” or “The Queen of South” This is a program that I have watched various times.  It shares controversial topics regarding drug dealings, human slavery, and violence…  and others present in our world. 

If we put the controversial topics aside and focus the attention on the tenacity of Teresa Mendoza, the main character, a woman that finds herself in a world of extreme danger and hardship due to falling in love with “the wrong person.”  This is a fascinating story of how a person can transform him or herself under extreme adversity.   Teresa is persecuted by drug lords that want to take her life for having been associated with the “wrong person”.  She never chose that destiny and during extreme conditions she learns about her capability to quickly decide and make choices that keep her alive and enables her self-protection while building herself out from poverty.   It denotes the capacity that us, humans, have to become resourceful and find ways to resolve complex and difficult situations.

From the characteristics that I can connect with Teresa Mendoza and the story is her ability to make things happen regardless of extreme hardships.  She has to become a leader of her life.  The importance of recognizing our own abilities, in her case a great memory and ability to do business and math.  In addition to her ability to network and create lasting relationships that she leverages throughout the story.  She builds herself to become The Queen of the South by becoming the best transportation logistics expert in the region.  Aside from the moral implication of what transporting drugs brings… she made the best out the world and situations life presented to her.

Her tenacity, making things happen and stretching herself to become better at what she does, appeals me.  Many times while watching the show I reflected how much simpler my life conditions were, so it inspired me to push myself even harder to achieve my objectives and results. 

Stopping and reflecting on the reasons why I choose and enjoy the shows that I do, have become a fun discovery for myself and others.  I use it in my coaching practice to help my clients get to know themselves better.

I challenge you to take some time to reflect on those things that connect you to the TV shows and movies that you choose. Imagine what can you discover about yourself and people around you.