Walking Through

I recently watched Newsies with my friend, Juliet.  It brought me back to my 13-year-old self. I watched that movie so many times as a teen. Yes, mostly because of my crush on Christian Bale (which is still alive and well today, thanks for asking).  I’d like to think it also had something to do with the themes surrounding justice and family and dreams.

The main character, Jack Kelly, finds himself controlled by "the man."  Struggling to get by and survive in New York City, he has no family to rely on and he creates a fantasy world to which he can escape. For Jack, this fantasy is Santa Fe – a place where he can be free, like the wind (the song explains it well).  I find myself doing this, don’t you? I have a very wild imagination and have multiple alternate realities swirling around in my head. A few examples: working in the Civil Rights division at the Department of Justice; working on the communications team in the West Wing (both on the TV show and in real life!); being an American spy in Russia during the Cold War (or now, as circumstances would have it).

Maybe your escape isn’t quite as specific (or weird), but I think we all have a place we go in our minds where we think life would be better if…  Life would be better if my job was more exciting and I was saving the world.  Life would be better if I could just take a relaxing vacation and check out of life for 6 months. Life would be better if my relationships were more meaningful.  Life would be better if I had more money. Life would be better if I could move to Santa Fe.

I think these mental escapes and dreams serve a purpose.  I believe my escape desires push me in in the right direction. My career dreams help push me forward and make certain my work is fulfilling.  I realize to have a choice in my occupation is a luxury and a gift.  These dreams remind me not to waste that gift.  My dream to check out of life for 6 months pushes me to rest – something I do not do well.  It reminds me to stop scheduling myself every waking minute, and. just. stop. In short, my dreams typically cause me to take action and create some movement or course-correct.

But escapes can have the adverse effect. They can pull us too far away from reality. It’s easy to look for the quick fix and think “if only” instead of working with what is right in front of us. The dreams can make us feel like we will never be happy. Life will never get better unless that dream comes true.  A very wise friend gave me these words: Sometimes, you just have to go through life instead of plotting a way around it. Amen!  Be it trials or boredom/monotony, our reality will look different than our dreams. We have to go through it to get to the other side. There is often no way around it.  

I won’t spoil the end of Newsies for you (really, have you not seen it?!).  Jack’s journey is one of courage and walking through things.  At the end of the film, Jack is given the choice to follow his dream to Santa Fe or stay in NYC with the people who walked through his journey with him.

I am thankful to have so many people in my life who know me well. They know when to encourage my dreams and the movement they inspire, and when to pull me back to reality. They have walked through so many things with me. I’d like to think I am a better person for it.  

What are your dreams? What are you walking through right now?