When Life Gives You Lemons…

Lemonade is a documentary short that delivers a powerful message. It focuses on several advertising professionals and how they dealt with the shocking impact of being laid off. Many of them looked at this sometimes devastating blow as a wake up call and chose to go for their dreams and do what they’ve always wanted to do. The stories each of them tell are touching and inspirational whether you’ve been in their shoes or just stuck in a dead-end job. They are living examples of the old adage of when life gives you lemons, make lemonade (and make a comfy living while you’re at it). I love their slogan, “It’s not a pink slip, it’s a blank page”.

One of the subjects, Erik Proulx, launched a new blog called Please Feed The Animals which has become popular and helps others who find themselves in the same boat he was in. His story was very moving, especially what his wife did during a critical point in their lives. It brought home the importance of your support system from loved ones.

I think this is an important film for everyone to watch, especially us dads because men are so strongly connected to what we do for a living. Right or wrong, we are identified by our profession in our society. It doesn’t matter what we think we are or what we love to do in life, most people will label you according to the job you perform. For example, he’s a lawyer or he’s a carpenter and so on. This is why it’s so critical to find a way to follow our bliss and do what we love and love what we do but that’s another story for another day.

Here’s an article from FastCompany that covers how Erik used Twitter to recruit an entire team of volunteers that helped him make the movie. They also managed to get large organizations such as Sony and Virgin Atlantic to donate resources such as camera equipment and free flights. It’s amazing display of ingenuity and determination.

They have a cool website, LemonadeMovie.com, where people can upload their own lemonade story and how their lay off led to their rebirth. As a side note, the filmmaker himself was inspired to make this film, website and book after being laid off. Here’s the Lemonade Movie fanpage on Facebook and their twitter account:

Here’s the trailer (video resume) just to whet your appetite

The entire movie is on Hulu and embedded below.