Everything I learned, I learned from Disney Movies

Life can be pretty complicated these days. It goes by fast, making us run after it, trying desperately to keep up. Does it really have to be so complicated? I thought back to when I was a kid, rewinding tapes in ancient VCRs to watch my favorite movies over and over...and over again. Let's just say my old Lion King VHS is practically ruined from overuse (don't fret, I bought the special edition DVD). Luckily, DVDs and Netflix are much more forgiving because I still watch my Disney favorites on a little more than regular basis. Now that I'm a little older and wiser I realized that I have been learning lessons from my beloved Disney characters all these years. I think lessons gathered from Disney movies can help people navigate their complicated lives.

1- Toy Story 3 : Change is Inevitable 

Life is about change, so we might as well embrace the changes as they come. I've endured a lot of change within the last, and most of it was for the better. Change can be good, and moving on to another stage in life is healthy. Even if it means the relationships with those we love will be different, it doesn't mean we won’t still be there to support each other every step of the way.

“If nothing changed, there’d be no butterflies.” –Walt Disney

2- The Lion King: Don't Run From the Past

Learn from your mistakes, don't run from them. Here's the deeper explanation. You can't dwell on the past, but you also can't run from your problems forever. An escape can work for sometime, but eventually you will have to face them again in some form or another. And these things can be as simple as learning to avoid baboons with sticks to learning to face those you abandoned and owning up to the mistakes you made.

3- Lilo and Stitch- Ohana Means Family

Families can come in all shapes and sizes. Some children have a mom and a dad, others live with their grandparents and other times older siblings raise younger siblings. There is no such thing as a perfect family as all families fight and have their differences. But at the end of the day even if your family is small or broken, it is still good.   

4- Meet the Robinson’s : Keep Moving Forward

It’s okay to fail, as long as we keep moving forward. I've talked about this before but I really have a problem with failure. I do everything within my power to avoid it. And I think many people do. We will turn down opportunities and stop ourselves from taking risks because we are afraid of failure. But as they bring out in the movie, “From failure, you learn. From success, not so much.” We need to remind ourselves to view failure as part of the journey.

“We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we’re curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.” –Walt Disney

5- Peter Pan : Never Grow Up

I don’t have to grow up. At least, not if it means that I forget what it’s like to be a kid and the magic and joys of childhood. That’s something I want to hang onto no matter how old I am. Have fun. Laugh. Tickle somebody. Play a game. Go on, it’s good for the soul! Be in the moment, and just enjoy it. It’ll keep you young.

“Adults are only kids grown up, anyway.” –Walt Disney


6 - Up: Don't Give UP On Your Dreams (see what I did there?)

 It’s never too late to follow your dreams. I've spend a lot of time dreaming as a kid- places I wanted to go, things I wanted to accomplish. Sometimes, the reality of adulthood can take a toll on our dreams but it’s important to take out those old dreams every once in a while and take them for a spin. Don’t put it off for too long. Time doesn't always give us a redo. I recently traveled to Hawaii and had the trip of a lifetime, which was a huge dream of mine. Go live your dreams!

“All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them.”- Walt Disney

P.S. I don't claim ownership to any of these GIFs. I found all GIFs used for this post on google. Thank you to all who made them!