Are you Thelma or Louise?

Where did you first meet Thelma and Louise? Marking its 20^th anniversary last week, the groundbreaking film, Thelma and Louise, reflected a thirst for change in liberating women in the early 1990s.

Sure, we had the suffrage moment of Europe throughout the 1800’s, making its landmark shift in the early 1900s with huge strides in women’s rights to vote – to be counted. Following this up throughout key moments in history of the 20^th century, specific women’s groups established their foothold: First Nations/Aboriginal women, African American women, etc. The 1960’s saw women’s issues joining the Civil Rights movement to take the headlines. More recently, strides toward workplace pay equity continue to push home the inequality of women in society.

So, when a movie about two women who took on the ugly aspects of the men in their lives hit the big screens, women took notice again. As outlaw women on the road, we kicked up our heels and screamed at the top of our lungs as we drove off the cliff with them. We were reminded to live life fully on our terms.

As a woman in her twenties at the time, I recall the film stirring an inner voice in me, one I had not heard too often before – the one that whispered, said, and eventually screamed: Find your adventure! Within a year I had left my job, travelled to Europe, and was living in a whole new life in Eastern Europe. I was as far from the safety and knowingness of my previous stable, predictable, middle-class life as I had been yet. I was on a cliff-edge living life based on extraordinary trust.

With the 20^th anniversary milestone, my mind cast back through my life adventures since then…all the way to my now Spirit-driven, intuitive-based, Goddess life in my beloved middle class hometown. I came full-circle collecting the best of the world, of my gifts, and of my beliefs to create a life true to my heart. In some small part, I owe my earth-shaking shift to the screams of Thelma and Louise.

What do you attribute to the inspiring films of your youth? How did they expand your world and/or set you on a new course?