4 Life Changing Lessons I Learnt From Star Wars
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When your life meets a galaxy far, far away.
I fell into the Star Wars galaxy and I’m never coming out. This is why.
In the late 1970s, I watched Star Wars for the first time. It was unlike anything I had ever seen.
Luke. Leia. Han. Chewbacca. C3PO. R2D2. Vader.
These iconic characters ignited my imagination and followed my generation into our 20s, 30s and now 40s.
The release of the prequels in 1999 kept the story alive introducing a new legion of fans to the Skywalker family — we even saw Darth Vader as a kid.
In 2015, the 7th film in the saga was released — Force Awakens and [re]awaken the Star Wars franchise it did. Introducing new characters to new fans, Force Awakens achieved over $2 billion USD at the box office.
As excited as I was to watch the film [and enjoy it, I did], I experienced something unexpected.
For the first time, the story on screen and my life journey had strangely converged. Seeing Luke as an older man made me realise I was older too.
His death in 2017’s The Last Jedi unsettled me.
Seeing Luke disappear from his robe prompted more than just cinematic mourning but real life grief.
Why was I grieving?
“I was no longer in original trilogy VHS playback mode — stuck in time watching the hopefulness of youth.”
Stopped by the reflection of my ageing face in the mirror one day, I realised.
I was mourning the passing of time.
I was a fresh faced 7 year old when I watched A New Hope. I was a newly wed when Phantom Menace was released. It was joyful and humbling to watch Force Awakens with my then 8 year old sons.
Life moved forward. I was no longer in original trilogy VHS playback mode — stuck in time watching the hopefulness of youth.
VHS became DVDs.
The internet happened.
DVDs became streaming.
I grew up.
