Freedom in Belief
Last night I nested watching the 2004 film Finding Neverland. I generally enjoy anything starring Johnny Depp, but this film hit home a bit harder than most. Maybe because Depp's character J.M. Barrie is a writer who refuses to give up on his dreams and believes that anything can happen, or because he lost his brother in his youth. Either way, the character's optimism, and determination are inspiring, and his ability to live a life without concern of others perspective of him, yet he does not live like a jerk, is something I am working toward achieving in my life. Yeah, one can argue that hanging out with a widow as a married man is wrong and that spending too much time with her kids is somewhat odd. However, how is that anyone's business if the man isn't cheating on his wife, by not giving the woman more attention than that of a friend, and by helping to raise the boys to see their full potential and their expression of joy after they've experienced a traumatic event. Is spending time with a friend and helping young men cope with the harsh reality of life so wrong? It is understandable why the outside world's perspective would see how he spends his time as wrong like I said above; however, the facts remain that Barrie's intentions were pure and that he did, in fact, cause great change in the lives of Davies family. Truth is far superior to perspective, and I respect Barrie for living a life of truth for himself rather than out of fear of the perspective of others, who frankly care very little for his well being and more of gossiping about his character and what he can provide them with entertainment. I can't even imagine how wonderful a world this would be if we all lived by our own truth, as long as it doesn't cause harm to anyone, and how much creativity and joy we could bring to those around us and within ourselves. The key to finding this truth is also hinted at by Barrie and that is to believe. Believe so strongly that you can be or do anything and there isn't anything to stop you. I'll play devil's advocate here again and say, "do you really think just believing will solve all of your problems?" and the answer to that is no. To achieve the life you believe in you must take action as well as constantly believe. Practicality along with imagination can create the greatest potential in any individual. Imagine, or believe, that you can become a writer, and of course just sitting around will never make it so, but if you couple that with actually putting pen to paper, or whatever media you like, and you will, in fact, be a writer regardless of quality or skill. If you continue this method you will eventually become a better writer, and if you believe in yourself you will push through hard enough to achieve this skill. If you don't believe in yourself then you are likely to believe the negative voices in your head telling you-you aren't good enough, no one will like your work, you can't expect to make money writing and all that hogwash. Once you've established belief in yourself you will be able to push past such harsh words because you will just know you are good enough, you may not know how, but you will know deep down. Some of you may be rolling your eyes at this, but hear me out here and maybe believe it a little bit. Have you ever stood at the edge of a pool and thought how terrible it will be when you hit that water? Only to realize that your thoughts were wrong when your friend surprises you and pushes you straight into the water? You fell into that cold blue water and to your surprise, yes it was cold, but that you actually like it. Or did you just rush to the pool's ladder, jump out and yell at your friend? Most people realize that they're already in the water and that they might as well stay because they enjoy it. Your negative thoughts were wrong and you didn't suffer as much as you thought you would. Then there are the kids who just jump straight in because they believe that they are gonna have a blast right when they hit the water. Which would you rather be? The one who suffers pain until someone else chooses their fate for them, or the one who chooses their joy for them-self? Now that we've gotten through that, and you don't have to agree with me by any means, maybe you can apply this same question to your life. Do you want to be the ___ (writer for me) who listens to others opinions and your fears about the trade and never really start or realize how much time went by where your trade wasn't being grown until someone pushed you, or would you want to be the ___ (same thing) that spends all of their time loving their trade and constantly growing it even though others are putting you down and your thoughts laugh at you. One is clearly more likely to succeed, but that success will be challenging and at times uncomfortable to achieve because even though you believe in something there are always going to be those who don't and they will try to bring you to their side and so will your thoughts at times. Use your belief as your anchor, and like Barrie, you can create a masterpiece out of your surroundings even when others find you to be quite mad. They don't decide your fate, you do.
