What is Going to be Your Suit?

I get into my TV shows.  I mean, I really get into my TV shows. I read articles analyzing episodes, characters, and story arcs. I wait with bated breath until I can watch the next episode. When I’m hooked by a show, I can think of nothing else.

For example… When Mad Men ended, I almost had to take time off work because all I couldn’t stop thinking about that final episode. Years later, I still replay the endings to The Americans and Lost, and Ted Lasso was absolute light in the darkness of the pandemic for me. And of course, there is my first love- FRIENDS. #friendsforever

As you can tell, I get really consumed.

My most recent obsession has been The Bear. When I say I have spent the past two or so years thinking about and analyzing The Bear, I mean I have SPENT TIME on this show!

I will try not to give away too much because if you haven’t seen The Bear, you absolutely should.  It is profound and beautiful and gut wrenching and at times funny and just the full human emotional experience.

*Warning spoilers ahead!

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The Bear is the story of Carmen Berzatto, aka Carmy, a world class, Michelin star chef who returns home to run the family sandwich shop after his brother commits suicide.  

The show is filled with an amazing cast of characters, and there in the middle of all the chaos of the sandwich shop is Richie.

Richie is Carmy’s late brother’s best friend and basically like family to Carmy, thus earning the nickname Cousin. He is loud mouthed, obnoxious, short tempered, offensive and at times hard to watch in Season 1 because he is so rude and difficult.

But slowly through the course of the first two seasons, we learn more about Richie. Richie never really launched in life and he’s always just been lost- lost in his purpose, lost in his relationships, and now he’s lost and bitter.  He’s resistant and critical of the changes Carmy is making to the sandwich shop and fearful of losing even more in his life.

In the episode Forks, Carmy sends Richie to work at a 3 star Michelin restaurant for a few days to learn about the art of fine dining hospitality. 

Richie sees this assignment as Carmy getting rid of him and he is none to pleased. 

Richie arrives to his new job and is tasked with polishing the forks. Immediately, Richie is his typical rude, insulting, critical self and makes it clearly known he resents being there.

But over time, he begins to see the art and care the staff takes in serving customers and the purpose they feel for every detail and action.  And something begins to awaken in Richie.

He starts waking up earlier, getting to work on time, cleaning up his house, offering suggestions, and helping in other roles in the restaurant.  Through a truly amazing music montage with Taylor Swift’s Love Story ironically playing in the background, you see a middle aged man find his purpose. (Trust me, it is truly superb)

Richie returns to Carmy and the gang, and he’s different. He’s helpful, he’s not as short tempered, he’s more humble, and he makes amends to whom he was a jerk.

Not only has his demeanor changed, but he has exchanged his old, dirty t-shirts for… suits. When asked about this change, he responds by simply saying, “I wear suits now.” 

I wear suits now. 

With that statement, it’s like Richie is saying I’m different now.  I see that how I was living and treating people isn’t who I wanted to be.  I see that what I believed about myself is no longer serving me.  I see that I can be different, and I am going to be different now.  I’m doing something new.  I’m changing.  I wear suits now.

What is going to be your SUIT in 2025? 

What is the thing you are going to work on changing because it’s time for it to change?
What is the habit or belief that you’re ready to let go of?
What is the hurt you’re tired of being imprisoned by?

Because here is the beautiful thing about life:  You don’t have to be who you were. 

You don’t have to be who you used to be. 
You don’t have to be who someone said you were. 
You don’t have to be who you tried to be for years. 
You don’t have to be who your negative thoughts shout you are. 

You don’t have to be who you were. 

You don’t have to keep tripping over the same reactions that are not productive. 
You don’t have to keep carrying the same baggage passed down from generation to generation. 
You don’t have to keep trying to get the same people to love who are not capable of loving you the way you deserve to be loved. 

You can wear suits now. 

You can be different. 
You can change.

You can choose new responses, cultivate new beliefs about yourself, invest in new life giving relationships.  You can commit to deepening your self-awareness so that you can grow in joy, courage, and freedom this year.

You can wear suits now.

What is going to be your suit in 2025?
What are you ready to heal in 2025?
Where are you ready to change and grow in 2025?

Happy New Year, friends. May we cultivate the courage to change so that we can grow in joy and freedom this year!