Eli Stone

For those who aren't familiar, Eli Stone is a show about a lawyer who has a brain aneurysm which causes him to have "visions" or hallucinations usually involving people randomly breaking out into song and dance. Through these visions he's able to get some type of understanding of what events will transpire and in turn he helps the people in his vision. It sounds a little quirky and weird but I absolutely love this show. I started watching it last season and at the end of every episode it left me feeling all warm and fuzzy inside. Not because its "good wholesome television", but because its about purpose. See, before he started hallucinating he was your typical bottom feeding corporate lawyer climbing his way to the top of the food chain. Once he started realizing that he was put here for something more, not only did he change, he changed the people around him.

I just finished watching the season 2 premiere and Eli Stone hasn't lost its ability to inspire me when it comes to living a life of purpose. Last season's finale left off with Eli in a coma after having his aneurysm removed. At the beginning of the episode he's meeting with his post-op shrink and telling her that he no longer has visions. By the middle of the episode he realizes that she was just one big hallucination put there to make him realize that something is missing after the operation. They go back and forth with one another (yes he talks to his visions) and she points out to him that he was put here for a greater purpose and that the visions were apart of that purpose but he had the aneurysm removed so he could have a "normal" life. And suddenly she says something that resonated so deep within me. She said "normal would be a failure of potential for you." Wow. That statement spoke volumes for someone like me. Someone who has never been normal but often times longs to be so. A lot of times I'd love to just chuck this whole eccentric life I live and have normalcy. A normal career, a normal way of thinking...normal everything. But normal is definitely a failure of potential for someone like me. It gets to be a difficult burden sometimes but I'm grateful for quirky little shows like Eli Stone that come along to remind me that purpose is far more important than a desire to be normal and fit in.