Chip on Your Shoulder?

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There’s a chip on my shoulder,
And it’s big as a boulder.
With the chance I’ve been given,
I’m gonna be driven as hell.

(“Chip on My Shoulder” from Legally Blonde: The Musical)

I’m a law student who loves chick flicks and musicals, so naturally I’m super-excited that Legally Blonde: The Musical opens in London this December. Though as yet, I haven’t found anyone to go with (my other hates chick flicks and isn’t really into musicals) I’ve been watching lots of YouTube videos and even if I have to go alone, I’m determined to see it!

One big difference between the film and the musical is the character of Emmett, in the musical he is given a background story of growing up in poverty and having to finance his way through Law school by working two jobs as well as studying. The chip on his shoulder he has about his background and the fact that he has to work twice as hard as his classmates is what motivates him to achieve. He wants to earn enough to buy his mother a big house, to break the cycle of poverty by using the chance he has to elevate himself. Although Elle’s initial reaction is to exclaim “I’m sorry, but that sounds highly negative”, Emmett encourages her to find the chip on her shoulder and this gives her the determination she needs to succeed.

I’ve spoken briefly about the chip on my shoulder in my article for Little Flutters regarding my fears that relatives expected me to make very little of my life, and the determination to be independent that ignited in me from those indications. Whilst at some stages of my life this has had a slightly negative impact – I’ve avoided getting into relationships in the past for fear of becoming “needy” when part of a couple, for example, which can hardly be healthy – I think without that chip on my shoulder I wouldn’t be writing this. At several points in my academic and working career it would have been so much easier to just give up and move back in with my family, but if I’d done that I wouldn’t have become interested in writing my own blog (which stemmed from my dissertation on blog ranking sites), wouldn’t have met so many great people and, although life wouldn’t be such a financial struggle, I think my self-esteem would be far lower if I had to rely on my family for support still. Many people I know or have known in my time have been in similar situations, where the chip on their shoulder has given them the push they needed:

* The ex-housemate with to all intents and purposes the classic “evil stepmother” character in her father’s partner, who told her she would never make it at uni. She worked super-hard in response, graduated last year, has a great job and is highly successful.

* The guy who turned his failing degree around in a year due to a scary vision of the future painted for him by a friend’s calculations on how much money he would have wasted if he failed, and how much easier it would be to enter his dream career path if he had a degree.

With all the talk of positivity at the moment, sometimes I think we can forget the advantages that negative experiences can eventually afford us. Sometimes it takes a negative influence to really drive us to prove ourselves, to show our naysayers and the world in general that we can do great things.

What doesn’t kill us makes us stronger, as someone once said.

Do you have a chip on your shoulder that keeps you moving forward towards your goals?