Go exploring already!!

THE WORLD IS HUGE!!!

For real though. I lived in Wyoming during my childhood - my sense of traveling was going to Salt Lake City. 

True fact. 

Disney made me excited to go out and explore because it made me realize how little of the world I had seen. Aladdin, Lion King, Beauty and the Beast, Sword in the Stone, Mulan, Rescuers Down Under, Pocahontas, Emperor's New Groove - they all happen in different places around the world, technically speaking. That's cool!

Let's face it - Most romantic stories happen in San Fransisco and Seattle and most "THE WORLD'S GONNA END" movies happen in New York, L.A. or Chicago. Which, is cool. Those places are neat and completely different from anywhere that I've lived before. And I'm definitely excited to see them. But there's a lot more to the world than those five cities. There's a lot more to the world than just the United States of America.

Disney's pretty good about moving their stories around geographically. Granted, I can't exactly go around the world expecting Disney's depictions every place I visit. But I can expect to go out and see something different - something completely foreign to my way of life. And it'll still be new and exciting to me - just like a Disney movie was for me when I was little.

So, go exploring. Find something new. We can't all travel to every country or even every continent in the world. But we can go somewhere different. We can experience something new. 

And we can get excited about the world!

That may seem silly or strange. But the world is a pretty amazing place. It deserves to have people be excited about it. For people to realize how cool it is to live on a planet that is so diverse and so exciting. If you can't travel to Russia - read up on it! Read up on the culture, the people, the customs. If you have a dream to make it to Africa - then work towards that dream, because it'll be worth it. Every little bit. 

As for me?

My first stop is Antarctica so I can go sledding with the penguins.

Because why on Earth not? 

Everyone's a Sidekick

You know who never gets any recognition?

The sidekick.

You know who ends up doing just as much work if not more?

The sidekick.

You know who is responsible for being the comedic relief?

The sidekick.

Being a sidekick is hard work. And, truth is, they don't usually get the recognition or the pat on the back that they should. If you've ever felt that you're the sidekick in someone else's story - then at least you're doing your job right. Hopefully you're helping out when you can, being the comedic relief when everything's about to get too serious and being the live bait that gets chased all over the place. 

Don't stress over it. 

The good news is that the people surrounding you in your life are sidekicks in your story too. Everyone's a sidekick - and that's okay. Because sidekicks are freaking awesome and every story needs at least one. Can you image how boring some shows would be? What would we do without Kronk or Sebastian or Abu?

Probably not even bother watching the show over and over.

So my dear sidekicks - here's your pat on the back or toast to your awesomeness that you never get. Way to NOT be the reason for all the drama. Way to make everyone laugh at the small things. And way to be there for the people in your life. You're pretty cool. 

AND GUESS WHAT???

Despite your being overlooked at crucial moments sometimes - you still make it on the front cover:)

........

 Let's chat about silence shall we?

Did you know that Disney's classic movie Bambi has less than a thousand words in the ENTIRE show? This means that if we took all the talking in Bambi and stuck it together, this full length animated film would last less than 10 minutes. 

Did you also know that Dumbo is the only Disney title character to never speak? Not a word. The whole movie...

Now, I won't lie - neither Bambi nor Dumbo is my favorite Disney movie. I actually find them both rather boring most days. But I still think there's a great lesson to learn from them. Some humans seem to honestly be worried that if they aren't talking or giving their opinion on every little sentence that comes their way, they will shrivel up and die. Come on, we all know that person. Maybe you've been that person before. I don't think talking is a bad thing. Speaking well is actually a very commendable skill. But let's also remember that NOT talking can have it's own power. 

Silent protests are a thing.

Silent films were a thing for a lot of years. 

And an elephant that never says a word got a movie made about him. 

And we've all seen the meme that says, "Disney Pixar created a better love story in 8 minutes [with no talking] than Twilight did in 4 books."

When used in excess - yeah, I think silence can get boring.

But silence has the potential to a very powerful tool when used the right way.Any person that's ever had the "I'm so disappointed" look from their mother knows this. Any person that's cried looking at a painting knows this. Or felt completely content in the middle of the mountains with no connection to the outside world. Silence is cool. And it's necessary sometimes. 

Not to mention,

Actions speak a lot louder than words anyway.

If You Can't Say Anything Nice - Sing It Instead

"If you can't say something nice.... don't say nothin' at all."

(brought to you by Disney's own Thumper)

9 times out of 10 I'm a pretty firm believer in this idea/philosophy. However, sometimes this is a really hard concept to live by. Because sometimes the thing that needs to be said, can't really be put in a "nice" way. 

Sometimes the truth just hurts. 

Luckily Disney provided children with a second alternative to these kinds of sticky situations: If you can't say anything nice - maybe you should try singing it instead. 

Examples of this phenomenon include classical favorites such as He's a Tramp, Cruella de Vil, and Colors of the Wind. Usually being called a tramp is not something to be boasted of, but Disney pulls it off rather well, I think. Even when I was old enough to actually understand exactly what a tramp is, I still thought they had one of the cutest puppy-love-stories ever. And Cruella de Vil? Yeah... that song is nothing but one of the protagonists trashing the villain. But hey - it works, no? And Pocahontas basically uses Colors of the Wind to tell John Smith how close minded his view of the world is. 

Surprised??

Probably not, which is fine.

Take home point - The world is constantly lacking in niceness and friendliness and whenever at all possible, humans should just suck it up and either say something nice or not say anything at all. And when that's not possible? Well, now you have a second option.