An NYC snow day yesterday meant my day was open for sleeping, reading, writing, and watching movies. My movie buddy Tina often reads my mind so I was excited when she and I decided to head out into the cold and sloppy mess to watch Ben Stiller’s The Secret Life of Walter Mitty.
What can I say about Ben Stiller and the movies he directs, produces, and stars in: they are exactly what I want to see. His portrayal of how real people think, respond, and behave is perfect regardless the character portayed: Walter Mitty, Derek Zoolander, Larry Daley or Gaylord Focker. I always learn something about people through his portrayal of his crafted characters.
So here are my lessons learned from Walter Mitty:
- It’s okay to daydream
- Budgets are important
- Risks are hard, but necessary in order to grow as a person
- It feels great to do something nice for someone else, especially when they do not expect it
- We confuse disappointment in a person with not knowing all the information about a situation
- Doing something unexpected and spontaneous makes us frantic and uncomfortable at first
- Pushing our limits creates a new level of self-respect
- You have more of an impact on people’s lives than you think
Number 8 is particularly my favorite. This idea has copious amounts of potential to make us all ponder our purpose, as well as contemplate the words and actions we send into the world. So thank you Ben Stiller, for your ingenuity in character development and thoughtful representation of real people and their quirks. I look forward to your next piece of work.
Jibber Jabber & Happenstance 