Take the Red Pill
Remember The Matrix, that amazing sci-fi movie by the Wachowskis? I sure do. I loved it. I was 22 or 23 when it came out. I’d become more and more of a sci-fi geek during the years preceding its release (I even took a sci-fi class as part of my English Lit degree). So, when it came out, I knew I had to see it as soon as it came out. It pushed every single one of my “this is kick-ass!!!” buttons.
Let’s recap some of its appeal: Keanu Reeves, not doing much talking but looking super cool. Nerdy but not incomprehensible vision of the future. Ultimate badass, Laurence Fishburne. Intense action. AND REALLY COOL PLEATHER OUTFITS. Yeah. See? You’re sold too, I can tell.
But now...wow. When I think of The Matrix, I realize it’s so much more than just those things. It is, in fact, a fable for becoming completely and utterly free. Bear with me, while I eventually get to my point.
When Neo is offered the choice to stay in the easy, uncomplicated life within the Matrix (blue pill) or open his eyes to a world that will be completely foreign, scary, and previously unknown (red pill), he chooses the red pill. He chooses the truth.
Now, in case you don’t remember (or in case you’ve never seen it….*GASP!*) then I’m going to offer a little spoiler alert. His new life outside the matrix is NOT PLEASANT. He spends a giant chunk of it running away from Hugo Weaving(s), so he doesn’t get killed, and learning how to fight inside and outside the matrix, so he doesn’t get killed. Fun times, living under the threat of constant murder. But it doesn’t stop him.
Now that Neo and his pals have seen the truth, they know there’s no way they can go back. They can’t just give up their new reality and go back to the ways that have been determined for them. They also know they look damn good in their new outfits. Just sayin'.
Martha Beck, O.G. life coach and founder of my coaching certification program has a wonderful passage in her book Steering by Starlight. In it, she says:
“...enlightenment always tastes of freedom. Not comfort. Not ease. Freedom.”
Now that I’ve gone through my own process with life coaching and, as a coach myself, I see this movie completely differently than I used to. I see this movie as the embodiment of that book passage.
For starters, let’s take the writer/director duo, the Wachowski sisters: Lily and Lana. When The Matrix came out, it was credited to the Wachowski brothers. Lily and Lana, at the time of the movie that made them incredibly famous, were Andy and Larry. After becoming ridiculously famous (and, I imagine, ridiculously rich), both took the step to shed the gender roles society had defined for them so that they could live in their truth as females.
But let’s also look at the matrix itself. It’s designed to be the ideal, a world that runs perfectly smoothly. Everyone conforms in the matrix. Everyone is in a specific role in the society of the matrix so that it runs without a glitch….except when it does. When there is a glitch, it’s because someone has seen beyond the fakeness of it. The rules get bent. Something goes “wrong” according to the “perfect” program that’s been written.
The matrix = the rules of society. It’s the conditioning we’ve been exposed to our whole lives that tells us to look a certain way, strive for success in certain fields, do everything we can to get rich, get married and have 2.5 children, and to play the roles we find ourselves in, in the way people would expect us to.
Well, friends, I'm here as your very own Morpheus. I'm here to tell you that you’ll never get to the life that’s exactly perfect for you without stepping outside of the matrix (at least a little bit -- enough to cause a glitch). As we start to change and grow, making decisions that are good and right FOR US, people tend to get upset. They’ll say you’ve changed. They won’t understand you. And you’ll definitely have to give up some of the things you “know” to be true about yourself today.
It can be a little scary at times, sure. But once you’ve seen your truth, you won’t be able to stop following it. Because freedom tastes SO GOOD.
If you’re ready to take the red pill, reach out. I’m here to help you navigate your move outside the matrix.
