I recently finally saw the new Lion King movie, and yes, it was amazing. I had several epiphanies while watching it, but mainly, it helped me remember who the hell I am.
Also, those hyenas are really freaking scary, right?!
When Mufasa told Simba to remember who he was, it hit me right in the feels. I’ve struggled with my identity for a long time because my life has been completely uprooted in the past few years and even more so in the past few months.
Everything I thought I knew about myself and the world around me has been flipped all around, and because of that, I feel like I’ve had to revisit who I am as a person now.
I feel like I’ve hit a plateau lately on my personal development journey, and this movie helped me jump back into that journey.
From when we’re very little, we learn that we are what we do. Whenever you meet someone new as an adult, likely one of the first questions they’ll ask is what do you do. As I’ve mentioned before, I defined myself as my career for years without even consciously doing it.
Now that I only have a part-time job, my sense of self has been completely changed. I don’t know who I am anymore. At least, that’s what I’ve been telling myself. But then The Lion King helped me remember.
I was in the movie theater with a bunch of kids and parents, and I was beyond blissed out. I was singing along, albeit quietly, getting emotional at certain parts and feeling so nostalgic all at once.
There’s a reason The Lion King is such a powerful movie, and not just because of the memorable wildebeest stampede scene.
It’s all about helping you remember who you are despite the circumstances around you. We can’t predict any or all of what’s going to happen to or for us in life, but we can control how we decide to react to all of it.
Simba didn’t choose to have his father killed by his uncle (also, I know Scar is total garbage for many reasons, but like, he made Simba feel so guilty for killing his father and omg, I can’t even with this). He didn’t choose to feel guilty about how it happened. He didn’t choose to run away.
But all those things and a few others did happen, and his life veered off on a different path than perhaps he thought it would. This happens to us in bigger or smaller ways all the time.
Despite all the negative, horrible things he went through (and yes, I’m still talking about the life of a lion from a kids movie), he moved forward and adjusted to his new life circumstances.
Some of the things that happen to us in life are great and amazing; others, not so much. But it’s important to remember who we are, which does not include the circumstances around us.
I could keep going on and on about The Lion King, clearly, but you get what I mean. Sometimes all it takes is a kids movie to remind you about the power you have in life.
Photo by Frida Bredesen on Unsplash
