Life lessons from a superhero TV show

One of my all time favourite TV shows is Arrow. This show first emerged in 2012 which was a pivotal time for me as I’d just gone through a life changing event and in some way themes from this show put priorities in perspective for me.

The initial adverts for the show were awful and made it look cheesy, but somehow I watched the first episode and I was instantly hooked. To me, Arrow is a very intriguing show as a lot of its topics can be related in a way to most people’s lives and the challenges we come up against.

We all have a past

Oliver was stranded on a island for 5 years and went through terrible events which he initially tries to run from and forget. We all have a past and must learn to acknowledge it, even embrace it, if we hope to move on in life.

We want to be the good guy & do the right thing but it can be tough

Oliver is always conflicted through each season about how he can do the things he must do but still be a good person and do the right thing by his family and friends. We all have times where we have to do things that we aren’t sure about but we do them to protect the ones we love.

We all have to deal with the big bad

Just when you think at the end of each season that Oliver has been through enough turmoil and overcome the worst obstacle, 10 mins later the new big bad obstacle appears. This is very reminiscent of real life, where we are always overcoming new obstacles and tackling the sometimes madness of planet earth.

We all experience loss

As if Oliver didn’t experience enough pain, being on an island with lunatics for 5 years and away from his family. He must contend with the fact that he can’t save everyone and is tested with the loss of friends and family in his journey. Something we must all accept is that we cannot control death and at some point in our life we will experience the pain of losing a loved one.

We all need friends

Oliver is initially intent on pursuing his crusade on his own, but over the years with good people and maturity he understands that if he wants to maintain some humanity, he needs friends. I think we’ve all had points in our life where we naively believe we can do everything on our own and don’t need anyone, but no one can be a lone wolf forever.

We need to take care of ourselves

I’ll simply say this, when I saw this scene above in the first episode of season 1, I said “Dude you need to workout more and get on those kale smoothies”

We only get one body, look after it!

We all want to be loved

Quite simply even though he’s a badass vigilante, bringing justice to the people of his city, Oliver still wants to be loved and to love another. I hope we can all relate to this. Our basic human nature is to be with others and experience a life filled with love…….even though at times it can be bloody tough.

Be the person you want to be

Oliver has experienced a lot in his journey and has continually questioned whether he has the choice as to what type of man he can be with all the things he’s done. But his friends and family remind him that he always has a choice as to the man he wants to be. Again much like in real life, despite the things we have done, we all have the power to change and be the person we want to be.

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