Everything is awesome.
In the first Lego movie, the main guy Emmett’s been living his life believing that everything is awesome if you follow the directions, the rules, the expectations set by others. Basically, if you’re like everybody else, you’re good to go. This is Emmett’s misbelief – the thing that’s actually holding him back from living his best life. As a rule follower myself, I can totally relate.
When we watch a movie or pick up a book to read, we are willingly going into a world where there will be a problem, a challenge, a misbelief that the main character, the protagonist, has to overcome. She will struggle along the way and will face obstacles. There’s nothing we can do to save her from it – no matter how tightly we hold the remote control or how quickly we turn the pages. It’s all part of her journey.
We will cringe and cry and celebrate with her as she moves through each milestone – the inciting incident, the decision, the lowpoint, the final battle and, if all goes well, the growth in the end. But getting there is hard and sometimes painful – for her and for us, as the watchers and readers. Even more so if the ending is not a happily ever after – because, as in life, sometimes that’s the way stories go.
There are many things in the last 40+ years that I wish I could rewrite. Some are small and silly – like the ridiculously giant bows I wore in my hair in college. Others are bigger and emotionally heavier – like wishing the last words to my sister could have been I love you.
Working on this novel over the last two years has helped me realize that inciting incidents come in all shapes and forms – what we do after is what shapes us. We can choose to sit in our misbelief and, yes, life will still go on – but where’s the story in that? I’d much rather live a page-turning life – scars and all.
AND NOW ONTO THIS MONTH’S FEEL-GOOD FINDS:
A few of the curated clicks that gave me something to laugh at or feel inspired by or sometimes a little of both.
