As a child, I loved Disney movies… if I could edit them.
When watching alone, I always fast-forwarded through the scary scenes: when Cruella De Vil kidnaps the puppies, when the villagers attack the Beast’s castle, when Jabar becomes Genie’s next master. I’d bypass the trepidation, then rejoin when the hero had control again.
Turns out, this wasn’t the best way to approach adulthood. By seeking exclusively positive emotions and circumventing necessary conflicts, I denied myself critical growth. Only through battling the villain, solely by traversing the darkness, can we come to occupy the fullest understanding of who we are. And be our own hero.
If this year hasn’t started how you’d expected or hasn’t felt as you’d hoped, maybe that’s okay. Don’t press fast forward. If it’s a little scary, good. Trust Disney, it probably needs to be scary.
To livin’ a life we love,
Ryan Fightmaster, MD
(P.S. In my life, I’d never been more grateful to work than I was two weeks after Hurricane Helene. A piece of furniture was all the therapy (for now) that I needed. Yesterday, I published a video telling the story.)
