The True Hero Is Flawed

He has been everywhere lately.  Speaking his mind, gloating about his talents, tiger blood, F-18s and chain smoking. Yup, I’m talking about Charlie Sheen.  And like most of middle America I have found myself getting sucked into his interviews and talk show appearances.   As I sit, watch, listen and judge I catch myself…This man is speaking his truth, sharing his flaws and saying, “to he** with you if you can’t appreciate it.”  How liberating!  While I don’t condone or promote a lifestyle like that lived by Mr Sheen, I do find beauty in his ability to be completely open, vulnerable and true. Wouldn’t it be nice if we could all be so raw.

Throughout the interviews, the interviewer will inevitably refer to Sheen’s drug use.  To which Sheen will declare he is clean and that as long as he chooses to be clean he will stay that way.  The interviewer will caution of relapse and Sheen says something to the effect of, “that’s not an option.  I simply choose to stay clean.”   Ahhhh, choice.  Everything in our lives – the things we say, do , feel, expect – they are all our choices.  It’s easy to blame someone for making us angry, for ruining our lives, for making a situation difficult, but in reality it is our CHOICE to allow someone or something to affect us negatively.  Now, I know this is a bold statement and it’s certainly not something I have mastered.  I’m simply sharing with you that I appreciate Charlie’s proclamation and recognize the truth which lies in his statement.

Years ago I was a smoker.  I claimed to be addicted, but I was actually just choosing to pick up a cigarette (or two, or three,…) each day and light up.  I wanted to blame Philip-Morris, or stress, or a myriad of situations in my life for my addiction, but at the end of the day it was my mind, my fingers and my mouth doing the work.  It was my choice to smoke and my choice to quit.  As I was quitting, when the urge to smoke would come on I CHOSE to occupy my time with other things, better things, healthy things.  It’s been 3 years since I’ve had a cigarette.  That urge still rears it’s ugly head sometimes, but I choose to ignore it.  I share this because I believe it is 100% possible to rid yourself of a bad habit, bad relationship, bad mental attitude etc simply by choosing to overcome it.  And I believe Charlie when he says that’s what he will do.

OK, enough about that.  Moving on…

Here’s a theory, newly formed (yes, that one is from Fight Club):  The reason we’re all glued to the tube when Charlie is on is because we can see ourselves in him.  We begin watching with judgement, but the reason we continue to watch is because we see something we can identify with.  We observe what the media would like you to believe is a train-wreck, but if we turn our judgments inward we can quickly begin to relate, on even the smallest level, with Charlie Sheen.  We all have a skeleton or two in our closet, a mistake we wish we could take back, a former life full of regrets (or perhaps, our current life). As we watch this unfold in a public figure we get to compare,  contrast and perhaps come face to face with our own flaws.

Wow, I guess that’s what I was trying to get at – Embrace your flaws! We’ve all got them.  We all try to hide them at some point in our lives.  But, when we get to share them, we begin to let our true self free.  We begin to remove masks, layers, learned behavior, unnecessary burden etc… and just be vulnerable.  Pure. Raw. True. Our own hero, triumphing over the obstacles of our own making.

Go Team Charlie. Go Team Me.  Go Team YOU!

Be Your Own Hero