This movie is about the struggle a regular guy has to face for a crime he never committed, and, because of that suffocating situation, we can surely stumble upon some valuable lessons. The movie could be considered rather old since it was created 24 years ago but, it only shows how great and impactful the stories illustrated in films used to be back then, in comparison with the commercial, mostly hollow ones launched nowadays that are built upon the same boring, and money-grabbing ideas.

Disclaimer: I have to note that these are my opinions, that I took from the movie, but I advise you to watch it yourself, maybe you will feel differently or pick up on something I missed.

What’s fascinating to me is the fact that Andy Dufresne, the main character, got in prison with a two-life sentence, without any possibility of getting parole, for something he never did but, he’s still able to enjoy the little things in life. His situation is frustrating at least, and anybody in such circumstances would get mad but, surprisingly, Andy is able to cope with his new reality quickly, and stay sane.

He lost everything, his beloved wife who got murdered, his career, his entire life, and any possibility of getting out of the jail, legally, in the future thanks to its limiting sentence but, the reason why he can still remain without worries is because he understands one basic concept that’s essential for having a peaceful life.

A concept called carefreeness that I stumbled upon a long time ago thanks to one of my mentors but, I only recently realized that it’s actually part of a philosophical movement from history called Stoicism. Building your carefreeness muscle is highly essential, and there’s one exercise often practiced by modern Stoics that I’m sure the likes of Marcus Aurelius, Seneca, and Epictetus, the fathers of Stoicism, would love to apply into their lives.

This one exercise always helped me gain some perspective on my life, and, more importantly, to be more worry-free, and more relaxed in tough situations, an exercise called “The Circle of Concern and Influence.”

All you have to do, and I urge you to give this a shot, is to put down on paper all the things that you’re worried about right now, in this present moment. Once you have the list, cross out the things that are outside of your control zone, and only keep those that you can control. As soon as you scratched those things, you also have to let them go, to stop worrying about them since they are outside of your control, and you have to understand that regardless if you consume your energy on them or not, the end result will be the same, unaffected by you.

Then, get your priorities straight and only focus your energy, and time on the things that you can actually control. This is the simplest version of the exercise but, it still holds tremendous power; you can find the more complex, and detailed ones anywhere online.

And, here comes the brilliance in the character of Tim Robbins, Andy Dufresne because, as soon as this guy got into prison he realized that getting out, legally, is outside of his control and should stop worrying about it. All the attacks on him were also outside of his control, he couldn’t predict when other criminals were going to pick up on him; thus, there was no point in worrying over it at night.

Andy understood how important this way of thinking is so, instead of wasting his time on things that he can’t control, he focused all of his energy on building some genuine relationship, on performing his hobbies, and on helping other people to have a better life inside.

The Stoics were some wise people, and their philosophy can be applied directly into our lives since it’s still valid in our modern society, centuries after the foundation for this school of thought was laid down. Living life in a state of Stoic carefreeness is the only way worth living it.

There’s one part of the movie that still mesmerizes me, more precisely one character and his actions that I’m still pondering over, and that’s Brooks. You see, this character, Brooks, spent most of his life in prison, and that became his reality, that was everything he knew. Not long after he got released into the world, after 50 years spent in jail, he killed himself, and that might be partial because he had to adapt to an entirely new world but, I’m sure that the main reason is a different one.

As other characters said, Brooks was an important man in prison, he had a purpose, he was able to help and serve his community but, as soon as he got out, he just became a regular guy with no purpose, and I think that’s the main reason he decided to commit suicide.

And, this is not just a movie scenario, a lot of people actually end up dying or catching up a lot of diseases as soon as they retire because, once that happens, they serve no set purpose anymore. There are plenty of studies, and articles on this matter that you can access within a few clicks but, I’m not going to link any of them in here because I don’t want to limit myself. But, generally, once humans are not driven by anything, they start to lose interest in life, and that’s when bad stuff starts piling up on top of each other.

When I say purpose, I don’t just mean having a job, a job that you don’t even enjoy but, being on a path that truly sets your heart on fire. Now, you might not be dead if you’re not serving a greater purpose but, the question is, how alive are you actually if you’re just surviving through a job that you hate. I don’t hold the answer, this is a question that only you can answer, and change your path according to the answer you arrive at.

Lessons Learned

This movie has one of the most striking, and most compelling stories, ever seen in a movie which makes it utterly brilliant. The story of a man that goes to prison for years, without being guilty but, he still manages to find pleasure into the little things, and accept his situation, while working on something greater.

Stoicism might not be a flawless philosophy but, if you take some of its core principles like accepting your situation while taking action to improve your life, while trying to arrive at a state of constant carefreeness and to adopt them into your life to serve the greater purpose that you have chosen, you cannot go wrong.

Thank you for reading.

Authored by @GuyFawkes4-20