but then again, it’s never that easy.

rach:

i think happiness may be as simple as finding a way to reduce the five lives we all try to lead down to just one. one is so much more than enough.

The idea of identity has really interested me ever since seeing There Will Be Blood, which gets a lot of its dramatic tension from Daniel Day-Lewis’s character being unable to choose between his roles as a ruthless competitor and a family man. He starts out as an incredibly hardcore silver miner, becomes a sort of father (while telling himself that it’s for better competing), becomes distraught at being a poor father, tries to find replacement family and fails, briefly breaks down in dismay at having “abandoned” his child, and finally finds a way to twistedly reconcile the two near the very end.

It’s the most powerful portion of the film for me, and one that really led me to think what I’m trying to be. A respected leader? A good worker? A trusted friend (or something more)? I’ve been pragmatically shoehorned into being the first and am actually confident about my abilities in the second, but get the most fulfillment about being the third despite my self-perceived flaws. Life’s confusing, but every once in a while it clicks into focus and you know where to go.