I finished watching the TV series, Ted Lasso. After the heartwarming, yet gut wrenching series finale, I couldn’t decide if I relate more to Ted Lasso or Ted Mosby on How I Met Your Mother.

How I Met Your Mother

The story goes into a flashback and starts in 2005 with 27-year-old Ted Mosby living in New York City and working as an architect. The narrative deals primarily with his best friends, including the long-lasting couple Marshall Eriksen (Jason Segel) and Lily Aldrin (Alyson Hannigan), womanizing playboy Barney Stinson (Neil Patrick Harris), and Canadian news reporter Robin Scherbatsky (Cobie Smulders); all of the characters’ lives are entwined. The series explores many storylines, including a “will they or won’t they” relationship between Robin and each of the two single male friends, Marshall and Lily’s relationship, and the ups and downs of the characters’ careers.

Ted is on a quest for happiness and “The One”, the woman he will marry. He has many relationships, one with Robin, that reveal the qualities he wants in his future wife. At the end of each relationship, with levity, he reflects on what went wrong. Although hope to find “the one” diminishes with each failed relationship, Ted does not give up. He has more elegant and higher-class interests than his friends. He goes to great lengths to profess his love to the women in his life, but they all falter eventually. Despite these qualities, Ted often acts immaturely, such as in wild activities with Barney.

As much as I wanted to be Barney, the womanizing playboy, ultimately I was Ted. Ted is the quintessential hopeless romantic. Ted Mosby is also a great storyteller with associated and interconnected points.

Just like me. Or perhaps how I was in my 30’s. I was on always looking for that meet-cute moment.

Nowadays, I’m thinking I’m more like Ted Lasso and here’s why …

#BELIEVE

Ted Lasso, an American college football coach, is unexpectedly recruited to coach a fictional English Premier League soccer team, AFC Richmond, despite having no previous experience coaching soccer. The team’s owner, Rebecca Welton, hires Lasso hoping he will fail as a means of exacting revenge on the team’s previous owner, her unfaithful ex-husband. However, Ted’s charm, personality, and humor begin to win over Rebecca, the team, and those who had been skeptical about his appointment.

The parallel I’m drawing is I moved from my home state of 40 plus years of Washington to State Forty Eight, Arizona to be a full-time night merchant, and forklift operator.

Ted is seemingly unflappable, continuously positive, and infectious inspiration to everyone he meets. Again, like me. One of the first things Ted does is post a sign above the coaches office facing the locker room with #BELIEVE.

Believe in yourself, and your teammates, believe when no one else will. SPOILER ALERT: it’s the fourth item. Despite the odds, Ted remained positive with his head high, and shoulders back. Throughout the series, Ted had a proclivity to use idioms, metaphors, similes, figures of speech, mixed quotes, etc to express himself.

Again. Just. Like. Me.

Ted’s natural personality was endearing to all whether they wanted it to be or not. People would gravitate to him to be inspired. He would reply to someone’s laments with “be a goldfish”.

Another spoiler alert! He uttered the phrase under his breathe, “barbecue sauce“, as a winning moment happens. It happens only twice.

Well, I have a winning phrase as well, “Keep digging”.

Be Yourself

The more I think on it, regardless of the amount of comparable traits I have with these television characters … I should just be myself. I’m not Ted Mosby X Ted Lasso.

I’ll leave you with my Facebook profile quote: You only live once but … if you do it right, once is all you need.

Thank you for listening to my TEDtalk.

‘los; out