Have you ever thought about what you'd tell your younger self if you got the chance? That's the premise of the recent film My Old Ass, starring Maisy Stella and Aubrey Plaza.
A few weeks before leaving for college, 18 year old Elliott meets her 39 year old self while under the influence of magic mushrooms and gets some sage life advice. Older Elliott tells her to spend more time with her mum and brothers - and to avoid anyone named Chad. She won't tell younger Elliott why, nor will she give away much about the future in case it has any damaging effects.
Image copyright is owned by MGM Studios.
*THE BELOW CONTAINS MAJOR SPOILERS*
Elliott does heed her older self's advice in spending more time with her family, and whereas she previously couldn't wait to leave, begins to appreciate them and where she lives. I remember that feeling of being a teenager and wishing time away until I got to leave, go to university, 'start my life'...
Of course that's one of the lessons here: Your life is already happening right now - stop waiting and start appreciating.
What Elliott tries and fails to listen to is the advice about staying away from anybody named Chad, when she meets a guy with just this name the very next day and soon starts falling for him. This calls into question her sexuality, having previously been sure she was only attracted to women, which leads to an interesting thread around labels and fluidity.
"If (labels) feel useful, then use them. If they stop feeling useful, then stop using them."
(A quote from Elliott's friend Ro).
Older Elliott remains adamant that younger Elliott should stay away from Chad and young Elliott can't figure out why because she can't find anything wrong with him. In an emotional scene, older Elliott eventually reveals that there isn't anything wrong with him... the problem is that he's going to die. It's clear how much this has impacted older Elliott and she doesn't want her younger self to have to go through this. I'm sure we can all relate to this - wishing we could change the past and prevent ourselves from going through heartbreak or loss.
Image copyright is owned by MGM Studios.
But what older Elliott realises when she sees her younger self with Chad, is that it's not fair of her to rob young Elliott of that experience, of all the experiences yet to come.
We can't just go through her life trying to avoid difficult things, because in doing this, we will never get to experience the good things. Older Elliott has been so blinded by her grief and focus on what she lost that she'd forgotten this. It's a difficult truth to accept; that we cannot know love without also knowing grief.
Ultimately older Elliott sets her younger self free by giving her blessing to do what she needs to do: fall in love and live her life for herself. So older Elliott learns to let go and to be thankful for what she had, and younger Elliott learns to live in the moment and appreciate what she has right now.
If you've seen the film, let me know what you think in the comments. And if you haven't, hopefully you took something from this post anyway.
Until next time, take care.
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