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The power to grow self-awareness and edit our stories with courage and conviction.
Stories serve as a guide and protection, informing and safeguarding others so they don’t make the same mistakes. Yet, the narratives we weave within our minds can become so embedded they sever our connections to potential, healing, and community. What was protection has turned into isolation.
The Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3 movie shines a bright light on the stories we weave, offering a myriad of subplots ripe for examination:
Peter Quill grappling with a belief that abandonment is inevitable.
Gamora's journey of rediscovery, seeking her place of belonging.
Nebula's critical view of what qualities are considered strengths vs weaknesses.
Adam Warlock wrestling with feelings of unworthiness instilled by past traumas, only to find redemption through unexpected salvation.
Yondu Udonta's struggle to harness his abilities, juxtaposed with Cosmo, the Spacedog, effortlessly wielding her talents, highlighting the power of encouragement over criticism.
However, amidst these captivating narratives, I chose to spotlight the film's main character, Rocket, and the story he constructed about his worth. Through delicate awareness of these repetitive tales in our own lives, we can begin the editing process -- stripping away the power of old stories and the beliefs that limit us.
Let's set the stage. The movie revolves around the High Evolutionary's relentless pursuit of Rocket (aka P-1-3) for his exceptional intellect. Rocket, the sole specimen meeting the geneticist's highest standards for his ability to invent. Rocket is gravely injured, but the Guardians cannot provide medical care when they realize Rocket has a kill switch. This puts him in great peril. To save him, the Guardians embark on a mission to obtain the code to override Rocket's kill switch.
As a side, throughout the Marvel series, Rocket grapples with his identity. He’s often referred to disparagingly as a "talking raccoon” and even though he is unsure what mammal he is, he doesn’t feel he’s a talking raccoon.
Let’s dive into storytelling throughout the film. Rocket’s self-perception is rooted in an upsetting past, where he was subjected to cruel experimentation alongside Batch 89, a group of fellow captives. The High Evolutionary took a great interest in Rocket (P-1-3) who displayed clever engineering qualities. In teaching Rocket concepts and ideas, Rocket was able to solve flaws in the High Evolutionary’s work.
Once the flaws were corrected, the High Evolutionary wanted to terminate Batch 89. Knowing this, Rocket creates a keypad from scraps to release himself and the other members of Batch 89. They trusted Rocket and his plan, however, the escape was interrupted by the High Evolutionary causing their deaths, even though Rocket was able to escape. Despite his ingenuity, the tragedy of his friends' passings weighed heavily upon him, fostering a narrative of not-enough and being a failure.
Throughout the entire Galaxy and Avengers series, Rocket keeps everyone an arms length away. Never allowing anyone to truly get close, know his story because he felt they’d judge him for it. Worse, affirm that he is not actually worthy to be a part of the Guardians.
Present day, in the film, Rocket teeters on the brink of death, he is spiritually visited by Lylla, a member of Batch 89. Rocket cries, apologizing for letting her down. For letting Batch 89 down, his friends. He wants to go with them – to fly across the beautiful sky. However, Lylla sees Rocket has a purpose left undone, and will not allow him to go. Rocket exclaims, “a purpose for what?!! They made us for nothing. For experiments and then to be thrown away.” This is how Rocket sees himself – as a creature to be tossed away.
Lylla replies, “there are the hands that make us, and the hands that guide the hands. The story has been yours all along, you just didn’t know it.” Her gentle reassurance dispels the story he has been telling himself, illuminating a new path to self-acceptance.
The Guardians, at this moment, retrieved the code and removed the kill switch. Rocket awakens to a team who cares. A team that through their recovery efforts of the code, learned what happened to him, and still adore him. Realizing that Batch 89 is happy in their after-life and that he has a family who deeply cares and loves him for him, he begins to write a new storyline.
Embracing his identity and worth, Rocket emerges, ready to confront his demons and embrace his role as a valued member of the Guardians. (BTW, Rocket learns while saving other creatures in the film that he is in fact a talking raccoon.) Rocket, who has always kept the Guardians at an arm’s length away, steps into his new role as Captain. Speechless and humbled, Rocket knows who he is and trusts his value to the family/team.
Many of us carry heavy beliefs that limit our capacity. These stories, woven over years of selective evidence, make editing them challenging. It took Rocket a near-death experience to realize the story he created wasn’t true, and it took courage and support from his family-friends to edit the belief that he wasn’t worthy.
Rocket’s journey resonated with me because I had a similar realization years prior. Overcoming my own ingrained story that I wasn’t good enough, which began in childhood, where I was teased for my speech impediment. Some teachers and nuns told me I wasn’t smart and wouldn’t amount to anything. I tried not to let the comments derail me, but a child can only take so much shade. I began believing I wasn’t enough. As a result, I made my presence small, lowered my voice, and played it safe to avoid criticism. When I switched schools, I found it easier to explain my speech issue by saying I was from Boston and couldn't make the proper R sound.
As the years went on, the story grew bigger, and the stress of it showed up every day, on time, between 8 a.m. – 6 p.m. Monday – Friday. Storytelling is an example of a personal stressor, covering everything from our perception of relationships to our self-esteem and feelings of self-worth. It’s the inner critics that won’t shut up to the stories we tell ourselves, selecting the evidence that will support it – hold it in place to keep us safe. For me, the stress showed up in many familiar ways:
Taking on too much work to prove my worthiness
Never saying “no” at work
Allowing myself to feel overwhelmed and needless
Working long hours
Being overly invested in perfection
Feeling like I had to have all the answers or else someone would spot me
I was stuck on a hamster wheel of my making, and I was exhausted. My body ached from the pressure, and I became withdrawn from my friends and family. I wanted out even though I was getting positive reinforcement for my performance. Something in me knew I couldn’t keep carrying on in this manner, so I began the mindful exploration, wondering, What if this isn’t true? What if I am enough? I began to re-examine my beliefs about myself from a whole new perspective – realizing that the evidence I had selected for my story was, in fact, false.
Like Rocket, I am fortunate to have amazing friends who are family to me, but I never fully allowed them in. I shied away from going/hanging out because, beneath the surface, I didn’t understand why they liked me. Luckily, their efforts kept the original version of me alive. I began to set boundaries at work, starting with working hours. My manager supported my efforts to remove responsibilities that weren’t necessarily mine. I consciously did enough without going for perfection. And through it all, my manager and team appreciated my contributions – nothing had really changed but my mindset and the serious reduction in stress.
Editing the story that I wasn’t enough helped alleviate the unnecessary stress I perceived at work and in life. The story had limited my ability to live, to be present, to perform, to stand tall for myself and others. Here’s a simplified version of the editing process:
Understanding the story;
Recognizing the voices;
Identifying the structures I put in place to hold the story together;
Authoring the new story; and
Practicing and expanding the new story and qualities.
I say simplified because, for me, it felt like two steps forward, one step back. To structure my life around the new story, I started to journal once per week specifically on how I’ve shown up in real life, aligned with the new story. This ritual constructed new neural pathways so that the new story became the main highway for my thoughts and actions, and the old story is starting to be pruned away.
Rocket stepped into his own becoming the Captain of the Guardians of the Galaxy, and I became the captain of my life, steering my story towards acceptance and grace.
Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3 demonstrates the power of self-awareness as the catalyst for transformation. By examining the narratives that defined Rocket, he reclaimed agency over his story, rewriting his destiny with newfound clarity and purpose.
In our own lives, the stories we tell ourselves can shape our reality, influencing our relationships, choices, and perceptions. Yet, by cultivating mindfulness and introspection, we can begin to unravel the threads of our narratives, discerning whose voice guides our tale. As we navigate the complexities of our own narratives, let us heed the lessons of Rocket, growing self-awareness and rewriting our stories with courage and conviction. For, as the film reminds us, "the story has been yours all along, you just didn't know it."
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