A couple of weeks ago, I watched a documentary on Netflix about Celine Dion.
I hadn’t heard anything about it prior to watching it, but I enjoy looking in on people’s life stories because there’s almost always something to take away and learn from them, so even though I’m not a fan of her music, I decided to give it a go.
I hadn’t realised until watching the documentary that Celine is living a pretty sad life right now. She has what’s called Stiff Person Syndrome (SPS), which is a rare neurological disorder that causes muscles in the torso and limbs to alternate between rigidity and spasms. The exact cause of SPS is unknown, but researchers suspect it may be an autoimmune reaction that attacks nerve cells in the central nervous system.
The net result for Celine is that she can sadly no longer perform.
The documentary follows her story - the highs of her previous career interspersed with the lows of dealing with her illness, plus her talking about her sadness and frustration about no longer being able to sing. She feels as if she has lost her purpose in life because her gift has been taken away from her.
I wasn’t sure how I felt about the documentary. I reflected that selfishly, I wanted it to be inspirational, but I found it really depressing, so I turned it off before the end. (Maybe if I hadn’t had COVID at the time, I would have stuck it out, but I ended up putting on something to cheer me up.)
However, I did scan the net for other people’s reactions to her story because I find those just as fascinating to read as they give me further insights into human nature. They were a mix of “Poor Celine. How tragic to see her struck down by such a terrible condition in her prime”, to “With all the wealth she has that enables her to live in a gorgeous mansion and have staff running around after her, her life is still better than mine so she should stop whingeing” to “I have recently been given 6 months to live. She is going to live to ripe old age so she should think herself lucky” to “I hope and pray they find a cure for her illness. I would love to see her perform again”
Nobody is wrong, and nobody is right. Just opinions.
That’s what’s great about opinions: we are all entitled to have them about each other, but none of them really matter, because the only thing that makes any real difference to our lives is what we believe about ourselves.
Sure, we all wonder to some extent what other people think about us, and on the whole, most of us would like people to approve of us, but not everyone will, and that’s OK.
One of Celine’s biggest causes of distress is that she is no longer able to give her audiences the joy of her concerts.
Without wanting to be rude, I have never enjoyed Celine’s singing. I respect her totally for what she has achieved, but I would never pay hundreds of pounds to see her in concert even if she made a miraculous recovery.
But she has inspired me in a way she will never know.
In a very short clip, she was shown choosing a pair of socks from her dressing room.
I have never seen such an incredible sock drawer! They were beautifully folded and arranged just as they would be in the highest-class, most luxurious five-star sock-boutique you can possibly imagine.
I was well and truly wowed, in much the same way as I was wowed by the whole country of Switzerland, which inspired me to create a new verb of Switzerlization, which I use to describe the process of decluttering and beautifying my house.
Celine (or rather her Sock Butler) inspired me to hook all my socks out of my drawer, carefully fold them, and stack them neatly up against each other.
They look fricking splendid and make me happy.
I swear to God, whenever I open my sock drawer now, it plays “My Heart Will Go On”.
I’m not sure that’s exactly the outcome Celine had in mind when she made that documentary, but that one delicious drawer scene has had more of an effect on my life than her billion-dollar singing career.
I think about her every time I put on socks, which is a lot!
You never know what you do to inspire others, but I can guarantee that somebody somewhere will remember you for something.