Thanks to the pandemic, do you feel like you’re living in a time loop where every day is the same? Get up, go online, eat, sleep, and then do it all over again the next day? Well, that’s the premise of Groundhog Day, a movie I highly recommend if you need to find some humor in your life right now. 

Bill Murray plays Phil, a weatherman in Pennsylvania. He is sent to cover the annual Groundhog Day celebrations. Once there, he gets stuck in a time loop and has to relive February 2nd every day. (Groundhog Day is an annual celebration in America where locals believe that if the groundhog sees his shadow on February 2nd, winter will last six weeks longer. If it does not see its shadow, spring will arrive earlier.)

The movie came out in 1993 and won many international awards. Nearly 30 years later, I find its message is still relevant. Phil’s crisis is so closely related to my feelings during this pandemic. Feeling like I was living in a loop with no way out, being trapped, and the unpredictability of life during the pandemic made me empathize with Phil. This pandemic has made it hard for all of us to see the light in the darkness, but darkness can only exist when there is light. 

Phil is able to break out of the cycle only when he becomes a good person and falls in love with Rita, played by Andie MacDowell. “ I don’t know, Phil,” Rita says in the movie. “Maybe it’s not a curse. Just depends on how you look at it.” 

I think that holds true for you and me also. We just have to learn to look at our lives positively right now. As hard as it is, looking at the pandemic from a different perspective might be the difference between a good day and a bad day. The only thing we can do right now is to be optimistic and hope that things will get better.