Genevieve Jolliffe

             We are flooded with choices every single minute of every day.

             How I Got To Now is a story about choice and how the power of words can have an impact on the choices we do make.

             You may have  a gut instinct but you are also strongly influenced by everybody around you.  Think about it. You're at the cafe facing two delicious choices and you're hungry. "Hmmm, should I have the pain au chocolat or the chocolate cake?"  The baker then tells you that they're both great, but personally she loves the chocolate cake...  So what do you do? The chocolate cake just got a recommendation so hell, why not? Chocolate cake please. 

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            How many times have you been in a good mood, only to meet a friend who's just got some bad news and now your mood is out of the window... 

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           Many of these choices are simple like the pain au chocolat and the chocolate cake, but then there are the serious choices... "Should I go to university or not?" "Should I marry this man (or woman) and spend the rest of my life with him (or her) or not?"  or "I'm 18, I'm pregnant, should I have the baby or not?"  These decisions can change your life forever, and many of these choices are created on an impulse (such as getting pregnant).    

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            In a time where pro choice is being questioned, such as in America where Texas has banned abortions (2021) and the same in Poland, I believe it's very important that it is, and always should be, a woman's right to choose. A pregnant woman should be entitled to have the choices put before her so she is able to make an informed educated decision. By presenting choices in a Groundhog's Day approach, the author Lucy Hay has managed to show the main character Lizzie explore her choices. For the adaptation, we have developed this further by showing the repercussions of those choices. 

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         Lizzie's order of choices are influenced by those around her and what is said and what she hears. She doesn't want to be like her mother, who fell pregnant with her, gave up her university dreams and now cleans bedrooms for a living. She wants the dream of a successful life. And so it's a very selfish viewpoint - but why not? She's 18. And as her friend Shona says "Relationships don't last anyway." But by taking that path, she soon realises that it's not that easy.  

       Her second choice, is to have 'her cake and eat it'. It's the post Me Too era so  of course she can have it all. Have the baby, get the help around her, but be in control. Again, she realizes it's not that easy.

     Her third choice, is letting people in to help her. Letting the father share the responsibilities, don't do this all on your own, accept others into your village to help raise your child. However, Lizzie forgets about her mother which we see is an estranged relationship from the beginning. She discovers again, it's not that easy.  

    Then her final choice - this is where Lizzie makes the 'unselfish' but united decision with the baby's father, of giving their baby up for adoption where they help create/complete a family. Once again, not that easy. 

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         So how is the loop broken? Lizzie learns from each choice and realises at the end, that she should resolve the relationship with her mother. It's only by doing this, that she breaks the loop and she is now left with having fully explored all of her choices - to make the choice that's right for her, on her own. 

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          Many young mums, like the author Lucy Hay, have a tough time with people constantly judging. And this isn't something that goes away. For those who have an abortion, if not judged by others, they are judged by themselves. Abortion becomes something that is deemed as shameful and so is hidden. For those who have their children, questions are continuously asked  such as "Are you from a vulnerable home?"  "Was it a one night stand?" "Is the father still around?" And then for those who choose giving up child for adoption... Many young birth mothers are vilified instead of praised for their bravery for making a decision to give their baby a great life from the start.  It's important to me to demystify how a teen mother is seen by the world. 

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       Having had experience on the other side of the coin as a parent who has adopted children, I know the euphoria adoption can bring to complete one's family. And being lucky enough to speak with my children's birth mother, I was able to also understand why a woman (young or old) would give up her baby to adoption.

        In How I Got To Now,  it is through Lizzie's eyes, that we can see what happens when you take each choice. This is how we realise that each pathway is filled with the good and the bad. That neither one is better than the other. Just different. 

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