Frozen, but not the Disney movie

Growing up, my family would often eat at a restaurant called the “Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater.”  It was an exciting experience for my brothers and I because it was the one place my parents would let us sit in the front seat of a ‘car.’ We’d eat our meatloaf or chicken nuggets as a family while and watch a cycle of movie trailers for the first (and worst) sci-fi/horror films play on an enormous drive-in theater screen.

We’d laugh at the ridiculous special effects and acting from the movies, but I found it almost more ridiculous that one character, we’ll call her Sally, just stood and screamed when faced with a ‘terrifying’ monster. It was such a hilariously improbable scenario to me that I thought the director and actor must have lost their minds.

Of course, I couldn’t directly relate to Sally’s situation. In fact, most of us can’t because we are fortunate to live in a world where being slowly chased by a 10-foot-tall alligator-type alien is a rare occasion. Perhaps none of us will ever face that alligator alien, but we will face and have faced many different kinds of monsters.

It’s easy to judge poor Sally, but surely you can remember a time you put off writing a paper or tackling a project because it was intimidating. Surely you can remember a time when you froze because you were afraid.

To be honest, sometimes I don’t write consistently on this blog because I’m frozen in the face of my monster: the fear of not being good enough.

In some cases, this fear comes in handy: it keeps me focused and it’s probably why I pour my heart and soul into everything I do. Too often, however, it makes me so afraid of creating something not-perfect, that I create nothing at all. Voltaire wrote, “Le mieux est l’ennemi du bien” or, as your professor might have said to you, “Perfect is the enemy of good.”

I’m working to overcome that particular part of my fear now. At work, there are often pieces I’m intimidated to write, but I’ve learned to stop for a moment, take a deep breath, and focus on the first few steps. I’ve found that writing seems remarkably less daunting once I put the first word on paper. I encourage you to do the same.

Whatever your monster is, whatever is making you frozen, take a single step forward. If it’s a difficult conversation with a friend, set up a time to talk. If it’s a dream job that you’re not sure you’ll get, start by tailoring your resume for that job. Just take the first step.

I mean it, go do it now. This time last semester, I was a little frozen before applying for Disney Professional Internships, so if that’s your dream, go apply now.

Stay hungry, stay magical and remember: magic is kindness, kindness is magic.

See ya real soon,

Annie