Life Lessons from Julia and Julie
by Sally ~ August 11th, 2009. Filed under: creative-entrepreneur, Happiness, Life Lessons, mentors.I saw the wonderful movie Julia and Julie last weekend. Most likely you’ve seen the ads for the movie and you may have had one of two reactions.
If you are like me and love to cook, and remember watching Julia Child on PBS, you were eagerly anticipating the movie. (I hope PBS will air her shows again.)
If you are like my son, he can’t imagine why anyone would want to watch a movie about someone blogging about cooking.
The movie was so well done on many different levels. The writer and director, Nora Ephron, showed the parallel lives of two women sharing their passion for cooking and life.
“At times our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person. Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lighted the flame within us.” -Albert Schweitzer
Julie Powell, a writer, is ignited by her passion for Julia Child, author and teacher of Mastering the Art of French Cooking . Julie chose to blog about her experience of working her way through the cookbook in a year.
Here are some of the lessons I got from the movie:
Finding out what you love to do and are passionate about is worth the effort.
It doesn’t mean you’ll get famous for doing it but it does mean you are using your gifts and talents for a more rewarding life.
Being persistent and patient is its own reward.
Both of these women spent a great deal of time and effort pursuing their passions of cooking and writing, and had many frustrations and dashed hopes along the way but they kept going.
Having support is key.
In the movie, both Julia and Julie have supportive husbands and friends. Having at least one person that can help you remember that you are capable and wonderful despite the disappointments is priceless. It can be hard to be persistent and patient without a little pat on the back sometimes.
You never know what might happen.
Julia Child didn’t start out writing a cookbook so she could be a well known TV personality and chef, and wasn’t expecting that to happen.
Julie Powell wanted to give herself a gift of creating a goal and finishing it, and while she hoped that people would read the blog, who would have expected that would lead to a book and a movie?
There were so many levels that I enjoyed this movie. I loved the passion it showed, both with their careers and their husbands, the story of possibilities, the reassurance that dreams don’t always happen overnight, and the wonderful acting, writing, directing.
What did you think?
August 11th, 2009 at 10:55 am
We’re on the same wavelength – I loved the movie and got the sames out of it as you!
August 11th, 2009 at 3:25 pm
Thanks, Heather for commenting. I’m glad you got a lot out of the movie too!
August 27th, 2009 at 10:40 am
[...] Julia Child, co-author of Mastering the Art of French Cooking, was 37 years old when she went to Le Cordon Bleu cooking school in Paris. She said she had been looking for a career all her life. She didn’t let the facts that she was the only woman in the class and she wasn’t’ fluent in french stop her from pursuing her passion of learning to cook french food. [...]