Chapter 2: In Omnia Paratus

I really do love non-English phrases. For this blog I’m going to talk about Gilmore Girls and an important life lesson I took from the show (I’m sure there are more).

In Omnia Paratus. ‘Prepared for all things’ in English. A Google search of the Latin phrase will generate a number of results almost exclusively pointing to the famed TV show Gilmore Girls. The connection, you ask? The phrase In Omnia Paratus is the motto of the Life and Death Brigade, a fictitious secret society at Yale supposedly based off the real life Skull and Bones Society (or not real, depending on who you ask). In Season 5, Episode 7, entitled “You Jump, I Jump Jack” (a reference to a line from the movie Titanic), Rory goes with to-be boyfriend Logan to a special event of The Life and Death Brigade to report on secret societies for an article in the Yale Daily News. The event culminates in a wildly dangerous stunt involving several people jumping from a very tall tower with nothing but a bungee cable and an umbrella, undoubtedly a tad inebriated too.

Here’s where it gets interesting. In the aforementioned Gilmore Girls episode, Logan asks Rory to climb the tower and jump with him. She is hesitant to do so because; a) she is a reporter who is supposed to be observing and not participating, and b) she’s terrified that she’ll die from the jump. I mean, who wouldn’t be? Here’s a nice shot for reference:

After some excellent witty banter between the two, a hallmark of Amy Sherman-Palladino’s writing (verbal ping-pong as I like to call it), Logan expresses quite possibly his most articulate thought of the entire series. “People can live a hundred years without living for a minute, you climb up here with me it’s one less minute you haven’t lived.” So Rory climbs the tower and guess what? Not only does she survive, but that becomes a major leap forward in her coming out of the shell she grew up with. I find that moment particularly striking as I know what Rory was feeling. At this point in the show’s life I have a pretty good idea of who Rory is as a person and I think we share a lot of personal traits. Shyness, compassion, intuitive, coffee obsessed, you get the idea. Maybe even writing skills!

Like Rory, I have survived some metaphorical jumps and am all the better for it. Starting this blog was one of those times, because I’m not normally much of a sharer, particularly with the things that give me anxiety. Uploading the last blog post was most certainly one of those experiences. I remember the feeling of writing the post, the climb to the top, and the act of publishing the blog post, my subsequent jump off the tower. I had a lot of reservations on sharing that post. When asked why I was no longer in my job, I often gave the reasoning that I no longer felt theater was right for me and I wanted to change careers. While that is also true, it wasn’t the whole truth. After a lot of encouragement from my ‘Logans’ (my therapist, my career coach, my family and friends), I decided that now was the time to act. I put up the post and I feel so much better about sharing my story and living my truth. Living your truth is always the better option but is often a very nerve-wracking experience to get to.

In my many revisits to the episode, I’ve thought about what the phrase In Omnia Paratus means to me. For a long time I thought it was a mantra to follow, that I was ready for any situation, come what may. I wanted to get a tattoo of the phrase with an umbrella over it to remind me of this moment in time. After the last several months of uncertainty, anxiety, self-doubt, and a stagnated self-drive to succeed, I’ve learned that I am in fact not ready for anything.  This is especially frustrating because one of the most valuable tools I learned in college was to be versatile. I was so sure I knew how to prepare for anything that I never stopped to consider that something will come along that’s going to throw me off course.

I think the phrase stuck with me because I was so afraid of not knowing what was coming next, so I had to assume that I could handle whatever it may be. Most of my life has been planned out in advance, so I’ve always had the chance to be prepared. It’s those pesky unplanned life events that have thrown me off, particularly in the last year. My grandfather passed away, my dog got progressively sicker and passed away, I was let go from my job, and we entered a pandemic. Needless to say I was not prepared for any of those.

I thought for a long time that I had to be prepared for anything. When that proved to be untrue I thought the phrase was no longer meaningful to me, but I’ve found its significance elsewhere. In omnia paratus isn’t literal, at least not for me. It’s a reminder that there are times where I will have to face a difficult situation that feels like it requires a life or death decision (see what I did there?), but really the important thing is to not waste the moment. Choosing to do nothing and be an outside observer is not the solution, acknowledging that taking the risky choice can lead to significant reward. In omnia paratus, for me, translates to ‘ready to live’, to not waste the time you have and to fill it with meaningful moments.

I want to hear from you! If you’ve ever had a similar situation where you had to take the jump and face your fears, tell me about it. Either leave a comment below or send me a message using the form on the Contact page. And, if you like my post please subscribe.