Keep Moving Forward

One of my favorite movies from my childhood was “Meet the Robinsons”. It was a mix of the comedy between the talking frog and when the T-rex said, “I got a big head and little arms”. That will forever be etched in my brain. The other thing I liked was the actual story line. Spoiler alert! When Lewis went to the future, only to find out it was because of his inventions that the world looked the way it did was baffling. He spent time falling in love with this family, only to find out it was his own family from the future. This was a great plot honestly, a great film in my opinion.

Overall I enjoyed that the whole movie was focused on Lewis not giving up his dream of becoming an inventor. He made good inventions but they had simple malfunctions that needed tweaking. It was because they had bad implications with others that made him doubt his capabilities. He had all he needed to succeed between his ears. He knew he could make great devices that would help lots of people. However, the same people he wanted to help only saw his mistakes and they judged him on this, making him feel bad about himself. We know things don’t always work out the first time around and we shouldn’t judge people solely on their mistakes the first time around.

In the same breath we shouldn’t let other people bring us down when we inevitably make mistakes. You won’t be great at everything the first time you try it. I am having a hard time learning this myself because I am a perfectionist. I love starting new ventures and expanding my mind when it comes to learning literally anything. My flaw is that I want to be great off the rip even though I know this is something I’ve never done before. This causes me to be harder on myself during the learning phase because my expectations for myself are through the roof. In a more positive manner, this is good because expectations lead to failure and failure leads to the persistence needed to get through and be better. This is the essence of Wilbur pushing Lewis to continue making the memory machine because it literally was the most important invention Lewis had and he didn’t even know it.

I want to mention that it's good to have people around you like Wilbur who see the greatness in you that will annoyingly remind you to achieve the goals you set for yourself. These people know you have what it takes to make it happen, yet you are blind to your own potential. When we have people in our corner we can trust, it's imperative to open up and listen to them. They may not have all the answers you need, but they damn sure have the inspiration you’re lacking. I know firsthand how easy it is to get sidetracked from doing the necessary work. I will clean my whole house and run errands just so I don't have to sit and work. I’ll have a conversation with people I trust, explaining my dreams and the work it'll take to get there. They know me and they explain all the things that can go right, informing me that my stress is actually unnecessary; that I should move forward and do what I said I'd do because I'm the only one worried about the outcome. These people are important to have and they will not only keep you on track but keep you sane as well. And if they have dreams, you can be the same light for them as they are for you.

We duck our goals because we want our work to be excellent when others set their eyes on it. If you’re like me, then you know your goals will come to fruition, but you want the work you do to be great. We nitpick everything because we don’t want others to see any flaws in our work. We think if it's not perfect, people will put a spotlight on our mistakes, and no one wants that. It’s important to remember that you must be proud of the work you put out. This comes with some dissonance because you also want people to like what you do. This is how Lewis found himself in a hard spot because he knew he had a great invention when he made the peanut butter and jelly gun. It was only when it malfunctioned, in front of the one man who was allergic to peanut butter, that Lewis doubted his invention.

This is a great reminder that what you do won't be for everybody. This alone is a big lesson, because some of us feel we have to please everyone, and this will never be possible. There will always be someone who doesn’t like what you’re doing; their reasons don’t even matter because we want to focus on those who enjoy what we have to offer.

Never allow your mistakes or other people to cause you to lose your excitement for your passions. Often we get overwhelmed with the many mistakes we make and this can take the fun out of the activity. Sometimes people will see what you’re doing and realize the great potential behind it, but because they are insecure they will talk down on your creations because they can't stand to see you do something great while they remain the same. No matter what outer stimulus is trying to bring you down, you should do your best to ignore it while keeping the spark alive in yourself. If you have to be on your own for a while to get things done then do so. Those who care for you will understand and let you get in your zone. We must stay excited about our passions for they light a fire within us that keeps us pushing. I’ve learned that some people may not fully understand what you’re doing but they will invest in you because of the excitement you express when speaking about it.

The quote from the movie that Lewis himself created in the future was, “keep moving forward”. This was the family motto and they certainly lived by it. I love this quote because it's short and simple. When you use this quote not much explanation is needed. Whenever you feel stuck, keep moving forward. When you see more hate than love, keep moving forward. When you make a mistake, keep moving forward. No matter the size of the problem you can always keep moving forward and get through any obstacle. There will be times where we are our only reminder. This isn’t a time to give up and let ourselves become buried in our sorrows. Pick yourself up, smile at the person in the mirror, and of course… KEEP MOVING FORWARD.

-J