Ripley, Believe it or not
The above link will take you to Ripley’s most (in)famous line in Aliens: “Get away from her, you bitch!” And with that, yes: Happy International Women’s Day!
Fun Fact: Sigourney Weaver almost didn’t even go to the audition for the role of Ripley in the original film, Alien, because she was sure she wouldn’t get it. Except that she did. She got the role, and supposedly the story goes that the film-makers decided to make Ripley the focus of the film, in order to ensure that the film would stand out in the male-dominated world of science fiction. So Susan Weaver–she took the name, “Sigourney,” from The Great Gatsby, because there was already another actress named Susan Weaver–went to an audition which eventually made her career and changed her life. I’d also argue that the film changed the lives of a lot of young women who watched a woman overcome her fears and kick ass and thought,”…whoa.”
The point being: yep, at one point, even Susan Weaver was terrified of achieving her goals. But, she grit her teeth and went forwards. Today is International Women’s Day, and even if you’re not a woman, or not, you know, super thrilled with woman…hey, it doesn’t matter! You still deserve to achieve your goals. Start by being honest with yourself: identifying what you really want out of life can be terrifying. You can feel that you don’t know what you want, or that you don’t deserve to get it anyway. Even if you do know what you want, the knowledge can break your heart, because…what happens if you can’t make it happen? This is why some people make an art out of denying themselves.
But much worse than the pain of losing, is the pain of never having tried. I know that if you had asked Susan Weaver back in the dark ages of 1970s, if she thought that one day she’d be a hugely rich and famous international mega-star, she would have giggled. A woman making bank in science fiction?? Baroo? And yet a woman spawned a sci-fi industry, b*tches! #grrrr
So, next time you’re thinking about that book you’d like to write…or the company you want to start…or hitch-hiking across Morocco…or,taking a cooking class…or, whatever goals you dream about, understand that if you spent as much time working on your dreams as you do convincing yourself they’ll never happen, your life could be very different right about now. No one can waste your time like you do. #gettowork