Last night I watched Enola Holmes 2 – such a good film, have you watched it yet?

I really love the Sherlock ‘revivals’. First the Sherlock film with Robert Downey Jr, then Sherlock with Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman – I actually wrote an article way-back-when explaining how it’s Watson (Martin Freeman) who’s the Hero of the story and not Sherlock…

I think I identify with the quirky detective, seeing the ‘clues’ everywhere, looking for the puzzle pieces until everything makes sense lol

But back to last night…

Eudoria Holmes, played by the brilliant Helena Bonham Carter, is Enola Holmes’ Mum. A woman who’s been raising her children to forge their own way in life and reject the status quo.

In the film, she’s quite literally blowing things up ( a post box – representing the ‘system’?) and fighting for women’s rights.

She’s a woman full of wisdom.

Two quotes from Eudoria that stood out to me were:

🔎 “Too many people make it their sole purpose in life to fit into the world around them. This is a mistake.”

and

🔎 “Your purpose must be to find who you are.”

Whilst I don’t think it’s so much of a ‘finding’ of who you are, it’s more of a remembering, I think the message is so important.

It’s so easy to lose a sense of who you are, and what’s truly important to you, when it seems like many of the people, systems and structures that surround us are invested in telling us who we should be, how we should behave and what we should believe.

It’s easy to feel lost or wonder why you’re not where you thought you would or ‘should’ be.

🔎 “Sometimes, you’ll stumble. Sometimes, you’ll fall. But no matter how lost you feel, if you stay true to yourself, the path will always find you again.” -Eudoria Holmes

Because no matter what happens to you in life, your magick and power are always trying to shine through (Podcast and transcript: Being true to you – how your power and magick never really leave you)

🔎 “It’s always there, the truth. You just need to look for it.” Sherlock Holmes

There’s no race to the finish line. You’re not a ‘product’ who’s ever going to be ‘complete’ or ‘finished’.

🔎 As Tewkesbury (the love interest of Enola Holmes) says, “Reform is not a task to be accomplished, nor a bill that can be passed. Rather it is a constant need for change.”

Just as remembering who you are, and reclaiming your power and magick, isn’t a ‘task to be completed’, but the constant need for change as you continually refine what you know to be true and align the choices you make with who you are and what’s important to you.

🔎 I’ll leave you with these words from Sherlock himself:

“The choice is always yours. Whatever society may claim, it can’t control you.” -Sherlock Holmes

‘I’m… I’m nobody. I’m with him’ – John Watson

I love the BBC drama Sherlock, it’s about the only TV show that I actually make a point of watching and I’m really looking forward to the next series.

As I’ve watched the series, I realise that even though the show is based on the character Sherlock, and he is amazingly clever, smart and witty, he’s not actually the hero of the show, Watson is.

A (s)hero embarks on a journey.

They respond to a call, they take action and they significantly change and grow as a person.

Sherlock pretty much remains his brilliant self throughout the series, as he describes himself ‘a high-functioning sociopath’.

Watson is the one who follows the path of the (s)hero.

At the beginning of the series Watson has left the army, has no job, nowhere to live, is seeing a therapist who says that he has post traumatic stress disorder and is walking with a walking stick.

Watson left the army and tried to fit back into ‘normal’ life and do what was expected of him.

It wasn’t until he answered ‘The Call’ of Sherlock inviting him along to investigate his first case, that Watson discovered that he didn’t have a limp, that it was psychosomatic.

Mysterious Gentleman: You have an intermittent tremor in your left hand. (Watson nods) Your therapist thinks it’s posttraumatic stress disorder. She thinks you’re haunted by memories of your military service …

Fire her. She’s got it the wrong way around. You’re under stress right now and your hand is perfectly steady. You’re not haunted by the war, Dr. Watson. You miss it.

Once Watson started doing what he did best, dealing with high stress and volatile situations, that he is transformed into a confident character with passion and purpose.

Often people think that the (s)hero is the main character, the loudest, physically strongest, the most famous, or has the program named after them.

But the (s)hero is the one that says ‘yes’ to that voice inside, the voice that leads them to follow their passions and purpose.

Even though Watson was trying to fit back into society, when asked if he’d seen injuries, violent deaths and trouble, he responds ‘Yes’.

Sherlock: Want to see some more?

Watson: Oh, God, yes

From the moment Watson says ‘Yes’, he is transformed from the depressed, character with no sense of direction, to being energised and engaged in life once again.

Would Watson describe himself as a hero? I very much doubt it.

Often (s)heroes see themselves as supporters of others and would never claim the title, or they don’t think that they have done anything special or certainly not brave enough to claim the title of (s)hero.

Yet sometimes the bravest thing you can do is to say ‘Yes’, and show up.

When people answer ‘yes’, they may not fully understand why they’ve embarked on the journey, it’s often not a rational decision.

People can be left wondering why they’ve said yes, when staying at home would’ve been easier.

The (s)hero is the one who allows themselves to take a chance, to grow and develop.

‘The (s)hero represents the egos search for identity and wholeness. The process of becoming a complete, integrated human being.’ – Christopher Vogler.

Claiming the role of a SHEro in your own life, doesn’t mean that you have to go and fight crime, solve murders or live with a ‘high functioning sociopath’, you don’t even have to leave the house!

But you do have to listen, or start to listen, to that small voice inside of you that wants more. The voice that is guiding you to reclaim all aspects of yourself so that you can become whole again.