Josh Petteruti
Jul 22, 2017 · 2 min read

If Your Life Was a TV Show

And how to be the hero…

Jon Snow- tentative hero (i’m only in season 2)

Do you ever experience movie theater syndrome? It usually sets in after spending two and a half hours watching a compelling movie with a heroic protagonist. Or after a day of binging Game of Thrones, envying the purpose someone like Jon Snow fights for. While you marinated in your cushy seat under a stream of soda and over-priced popcorn, some underdog saved the world, or got the girl. Then you step out into the light, shake out your soiled graphic t-shirt, and the sun blinds your mortal eyes at 3:00 pm in the afternoon.

It feels degrading. Putting your meek, average life next to a fictional dramatic story-line is a mental David and Goliath (in which David is rightfully pounded), and the sad truth about our world is that this happens to all of us. Very few live lives even remotely as interesting as the worst film at the last Oscars.

Although it may be impossible to win this psychological fight, there is an opportunity presented in the process.

One trait absolutely all shows have in common regardless of genre, audience, or medium, is that there is always someone to root for. Someone with ambition, or moreover, a decently fixed moral compass that provides hope throughout the show. Even antiheroes have some sort of righteous justification.

Would anyone have watched Breaking Bad if Walter was cancer-free? Or had no family? No. Because despite the turn his character makes, we’re all left rooting for him. Rooting he wins back his family, secures the money, beats his cancer- even if he poisons a 10 year old kid and kingpins a meth empire along the way.

So, for a lesson in perspective;

Imagine someday your life is the next big Netflix hit. College students around the world will spend days at a time watching what you’re doing and what you’re thinking. See yourself in the third person in everything you do. Lay all the factors down on the table and try to watch the entire picture. If you can manage to fit all of the people in your life onto the screen and pretend it’s all just a TV show, from there attempt to make yourself the hero. It starts with the small things. The courtesy, the humility, the patience. The morals, the passion, the courage. Easier said than done, but if you’re ever having trouble, just watch a movie. Heroes are easier to find in fantasy.

If all goes as planned, you should be a pretty likable character by your show’s climax. And if you can root for yourself in everything you do, other people can too.

Josh Petteruti

Written by

Trying to believe people are inherently good, help me out

Welcome to a place where words matter. On Medium, smart voices and original ideas take center stage - with no ads in sight. Watch
Follow all the topics you care about, and we’ll deliver the best stories for you to your homepage and inbox. Explore
Get unlimited access to the best stories on Medium — and support writers while you’re at it. Just $5/month. Upgrade