Growth

Many people face hindrances to their own growth. I faced a hindrance from my childhood growth through my parents and in Groundhog Day, Phil’s hindrance to growth is himself. In the beginning of the movie, Phil thinks so highly of himself and expects others to treat him like a celebrity that he does not see that he is a jerk. He thinks that the way he acts is fine and sees no reason to change. Phil’s lack of self-evaluation gets in his way of personal growth and becoming a better person.

Once Phil is trapped reliving the same day over and over again, he is able to step back and reevaluate himself because he sees all the ways things go wrong in his life just in that one day. He realizes what a jerk he is, with a little help from Rita. Initially, he fakes being nice to impress Rita, but along the way, the faking turns into genuine kindness and he starts to change for the better.

Phil’s process out of his cave takes years to accomplish. All those times that he had to relive the same day, he was taking steps out of that cave. Each time Phil relived the day, he took different steps so that each day was different and he learned from his previous mistakes. All his steps helped him grow and led him out of his cave. Once he finally got the day right, he was out of his cave and adapted to being out of the cave, too.

Just as Phil lived the day over and over to learn from his mistakes, I must do the same with my everyday life to get out of my cave. Unlike Phil though, I do not get to live the same day over and over until I get it correct, my life will keep going even if I am living it without any growth in my development. I have the added obstacle of my parents adding to the hindrance, but ultimately, I think it will depend on me and how I choose to handle everything that comes my way.