I watched the program Monday afternoon while I was home sick so I think it might be important to note that I was somewhat in a delirious state since I was drugged up, exhausted, and simultaneously a bit ansy to be OOTO. See, I guess I was technically working remotely while really ill but I had just gotten a new work laptop Friday and for whatever reason (okay, pretty sure that we determined back in the office yesterday that it was user error) I couldn't access VPN on Monday. Probably a blessing in disguise since I was forced to actually rest and wasn't able to do anything aside from a few things via texts and Gmail.
With this I was free to watch Downton with a clear, though still slightly foggy mind, and in turn extracted 7 ever important life lessons. Since Downton is a sweeping storyline about family, life, love, business, work, class, society, change, and all this other stuff, I think that despite its overly dramatic nature (which is half the fun) the premises of the story lines are really quite applicable to our modern day lives. With that I give you the top 7 life lessons I took from Downton Abbey's Season 4 Premiere.
*OH, quick warning, if you are not an avid Downton Abbey fan, #1 below includes mention of a pretty big spoiler from the end of season three. Just to be fair.
1. "If you want the best you have to be the best."
Molesley's father tells this to his son when Molesley is really quite down in the dumps. See he's upset about his future professional prospects now that Matthew has passed since he assumed he would just stay with Matthew at the Abbey, rising up through the ranks over time. He is so down and negative that before he even had the chance to mess up his quasi interview (though that wasn't really his fault now was it) for a new position he scoffs at the opportunity.
This is such an important quote and lesson in my book since his father is really telling him to never be too good for any job. Let that sink in for a moment. Never be too good for any job. Sure you can be overqualified, sure you can think that something is below your pay-grade and you might even be right but making that known won't do much for you. Just be the best at whatever opportunity you are presented with then let that opportunity, and your own skills and talents, help take you to what's next.
I think many of us can learn from this. We can't assume that we will each get what we deserve, or perhaps better stated, we think we deserve. We should all probably go ahead and let go of this idea that we deserve anything at all. At the turn of the 20th Century man men were trained to be valets and butlers, probably many better than Molesley (you can probably tell he's not my favorite character), just like many men and women are trained to be marketers, engineers, project and program managers, consultants, and everything else under the sun. We can't think that we are owed something simply because we have that training and have done well enough thus far. We should expect to work for everything we have not just at the very beginning of our careers but throughout them.
Never be too good for an opportunity. If you are you might miss the best opportunity you've ever been given because it’s disguised as something else to start!
2. "You have a good cry. That's what's needed. And then when you're ready we can get to work. Because you are strong enough."
Ahhh, this is perhaps one of the top 5 best pep talks in the world to me: short, sweet, direct, full of love. This is of course Mr. Carson giving these kind words to Lady Mary. I got one of these a few months back in a rather strange place (thanks BLW!) Sometimes we just need to show our vulneribilities, get really, really upset in front of someone then have him or her remind us -- maybe at times even tell us -- how strong we are.
Ahhh, this is perhaps one of the top 5 best pep talks in the world to me: short, sweet, direct, full of love. This is of course Mr. Carson giving these kind words to Lady Mary. I got one of these a few months back in a rather strange place (thanks BLW!) Sometimes we just need to show our vulneribilities, get really, really upset in front of someone then have him or her remind us -- maybe at times even tell us -- how strong we are.
3. "There can be too much truth in any relationship."
This is something I went back and forth on including since I am not totally sure I agree with it. But I simply couldn't have a list of Downton Abbey quotes and not include one from Violet Crawley, The Dowager Countess of Grantham. She mentioned this to Cousin Isobel and I think she hits on something here. I won't be an advoate of not telling the truth, I'm perhaps one of the worst liars you'll ever meet, but I think there's something to knowing when your audience needs or wants or should hear something and when your audience shouldn't. And when your audience shouldn't you should really stay quiet.
This is something I went back and forth on including since I am not totally sure I agree with it. But I simply couldn't have a list of Downton Abbey quotes and not include one from Violet Crawley, The Dowager Countess of Grantham. She mentioned this to Cousin Isobel and I think she hits on something here. I won't be an advoate of not telling the truth, I'm perhaps one of the worst liars you'll ever meet, but I think there's something to knowing when your audience needs or wants or should hear something and when your audience shouldn't. And when your audience shouldn't you should really stay quiet.
4. "We must all have our hearts broken once or twice before we're done."
Say it isn't so Mrs. Hughes, say it isn't so!! From time to time I find myself wondering what it would be like to be one of those women who meets her husband in middle school and stays with him blissfully through high school, college, and her early twenties to get married at twenty-five or something like that, but alas that's not me.
I, like I think all of my peers, have had quite my share of heartbreak. It never gets easier but it does get more familiar. And while it's anything but a fun feeling it's an experience that helps you get to know yourself on a whole new and important level. Maybe one positive way to think about it (okay, theres's no positive way to think about this but hear me out) is that heartbreak is one of the only times a person might experience the loss of something that she helped build literally from the ground up. You are losing something that you were literally half of, something that you had such vision for, that you were so invested in and really saw going somewhere. This is hard and can really can play with a person's mind and of course emotions. It can wholly overpower and consume you. Despite the fact that all the while you know deep down that it will be okay, somehow, somewhere, someday you will get through it. But until that exact, unpredictable moment your loss is so real, so entrenching that some parts of life -- sometimes all parts -- just seem impossible.
Sounds like fun, right? Nope, it's not. But I do stand by it being an important thing to experience. Yup, a horrible, cruel, important thing to experience multiple times in your life if you're lucky. Oh geeze, I might regret reading this in a day, a week, a month, a couple of years...
Say it isn't so Mrs. Hughes, say it isn't so!! From time to time I find myself wondering what it would be like to be one of those women who meets her husband in middle school and stays with him blissfully through high school, college, and her early twenties to get married at twenty-five or something like that, but alas that's not me.
I, like I think all of my peers, have had quite my share of heartbreak. It never gets easier but it does get more familiar. And while it's anything but a fun feeling it's an experience that helps you get to know yourself on a whole new and important level. Maybe one positive way to think about it (okay, theres's no positive way to think about this but hear me out) is that heartbreak is one of the only times a person might experience the loss of something that she helped build literally from the ground up. You are losing something that you were literally half of, something that you had such vision for, that you were so invested in and really saw going somewhere. This is hard and can really can play with a person's mind and of course emotions. It can wholly overpower and consume you. Despite the fact that all the while you know deep down that it will be okay, somehow, somewhere, someday you will get through it. But until that exact, unpredictable moment your loss is so real, so entrenching that some parts of life -- sometimes all parts -- just seem impossible.
Sounds like fun, right? Nope, it's not. But I do stand by it being an important thing to experience. Yup, a horrible, cruel, important thing to experience multiple times in your life if you're lucky. Oh geeze, I might regret reading this in a day, a week, a month, a couple of years...
5. "It's an open wound. I don't know why [it is] but I do know this: You'd do better to stitch it up and let it heal."
Mrs. Hughes again, and in the same scene I might add! She was talking to Mr. Carson this time about an old, former friend of his, but for me this is relatable to not just a lost friend, but a lost love, hell, a lost job. I take this to mean in part (and I would do well myself to get better at this!) that wounds happen. And we'd all do well to keep in mind that they heal best when we take action to mend them as best we can then give them time and space to let them heal properly, on their own time.
I could go on a whole other rant about scars and this and that but I will spare you since I think just saying the word "scar" sends all our minds down the same two paths: first and perhaps most obvious, The Lion King, second and perhaps most relevant, the fact that life's hurts, injustices, and battles whether they result in successes or failures cause bumps, bruising, and scars. Though these hurt, sometimes very profoundly when fresh, they all will heal over time and we will be better people from our experiences.
Lion King reference a bit too deep there? Moving on.
Mrs. Hughes again, and in the same scene I might add! She was talking to Mr. Carson this time about an old, former friend of his, but for me this is relatable to not just a lost friend, but a lost love, hell, a lost job. I take this to mean in part (and I would do well myself to get better at this!) that wounds happen. And we'd all do well to keep in mind that they heal best when we take action to mend them as best we can then give them time and space to let them heal properly, on their own time.
I could go on a whole other rant about scars and this and that but I will spare you since I think just saying the word "scar" sends all our minds down the same two paths: first and perhaps most obvious, The Lion King, second and perhaps most relevant, the fact that life's hurts, injustices, and battles whether they result in successes or failures cause bumps, bruising, and scars. Though these hurt, sometimes very profoundly when fresh, they all will heal over time and we will be better people from our experiences.
Lion King reference a bit too deep there? Moving on.
6. "Nothing's as changeable as a young man's heart. Take hope and a warning from that."
Since I'm a bit on this rant about love-lost I'll stick with it. Sorry for any exboyfriends who actively read or have stumbled upon my blog. This topic is a risk I think you knowingly accepted (note: that is said with kindness, you're welcome to my musings!)
Anyhoo, I also love a good Mrs. Patmore quote. In part because I hear her voice yelling at Daisy in my head. Also because under her thick-accent, beyond her at one point nearly lost eyesight, and past her attempts to cling so desperately to the old way of doing things that it's frightening, she does have some gems of thoughts at times.
This one is true as well. I don't think it needs much commentary and most ladybugs my age can all relate. I also think it applies to a young woman's heart too, though women are famous for sticking to their feelings perhaps a bit longer than men. Anyway, things change, people change, feelings change, all in a hodgepodge of directions and for so many reasons. Godspeed to us all on navigating that water!
Since I'm a bit on this rant about love-lost I'll stick with it. Sorry for any exboyfriends who actively read or have stumbled upon my blog. This topic is a risk I think you knowingly accepted (note: that is said with kindness, you're welcome to my musings!)
Anyhoo, I also love a good Mrs. Patmore quote. In part because I hear her voice yelling at Daisy in my head. Also because under her thick-accent, beyond her at one point nearly lost eyesight, and past her attempts to cling so desperately to the old way of doing things that it's frightening, she does have some gems of thoughts at times.
This one is true as well. I don't think it needs much commentary and most ladybugs my age can all relate. I also think it applies to a young woman's heart too, though women are famous for sticking to their feelings perhaps a bit longer than men. Anyway, things change, people change, feelings change, all in a hodgepodge of directions and for so many reasons. Godspeed to us all on navigating that water!
7. And then there are somethings that are not quotes but moments
No, you're right, that's not a quote from the premiere. But it's one of my favorite parts of the series. That the show captures moments of human vulnerability and decency. From across all facets of life: family, friendship, business, love, hate, jealousy, greed. It includes moments of reflection and wonder, of happiness and sorrow, of knowing love and action and sometimes great regret of inaction. And then moments of resolution and letting go and moving on.
No, you're right, that's not a quote from the premiere. But it's one of my favorite parts of the series. That the show captures moments of human vulnerability and decency. From across all facets of life: family, friendship, business, love, hate, jealousy, greed. It includes moments of reflection and wonder, of happiness and sorrow, of knowing love and action and sometimes great regret of inaction. And then moments of resolution and letting go and moving on.
Maybe it's the medicine I'm still on talking (writing), maybe it's the cold air that's stretching all the way to me here in Georgia but oh Downton Abby, I'm so glad to have you back! Your melodrama trumps that of my life, sets me in my place, and inspires me to write in prose too formal for my lack of formal writing/grammar training.
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