What I Learned From Walter Mitty...

The "Secret Life of Walter Mitty" is a film starring and directed by Ben Stiller. It's based on a short story by James Thurber from 1939. It's a tale that's got some staying power.

I'm not going to bury the lead here, I want to tell you about this film not because I want to do a movie review, but because it reminded me of something that we as women often forget or overlook... Experience counts. It's worth something. 

In our youth-driven, youth-adoring culture, it seems -- at least outwardly -- that many women (I am speaking mostly of those in the media, but I am sure there are many more) who would trade in their years for line-less faces and youthful figures. A lot of them try to do just that by having a variety of procedures. I'm not judging, I'm not at a stage where I'd consider botox or surgery, but who knows what the future holds? (I am secretly hoping that I never feel compelled to hide my true face)

However -- I am getting ahead of myself.

Let's get back to the picture show here shall we? I love that. Picture show. The only expression that cracks me up more is 'the talkies' - that's what movies were called in the era just after the silent film gave way to films with sound. Ah progress.

So, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty is about "A day-dreamer who escapes his anonymous life by disappearing into a world of fantasies filled with heroism, romance and action. When his job along with that of his co-worker are threatened, he takes action in the real world embarking on a global journey that turns into an adventure more extraordinary than anything he could have ever imagined." That's from IMDB btw.

As I was watching the film I thought, the poor sod stuck in his little basement, slaving away for a corporation that's now going to essentially render him both replaceable and irrelevant. I thought, hey now, I work for a corporation that is undergoing some major changes. I certainly haven't devoted my life to them. It's a part-time job in a book store that I've only worked at for a year, but still. It happens all the time to all sorts of people all across the world. 

Walter compensates for this by envisioning himself a hero of epic proportions. We later learn that Walter always wanted to travel but was unable to do so in his youth. I won't spoil the film. Suffice it to say, as the IMDB blurb sums up, he embarks on a real world journey.

Watching the film made me want to travel again. It made me mourn the passing of my perhaps somewhat misspent youth. I remembered one occasion in North Africa when my two friends and I had found ourselves at the entrance to a street market, the only women among a see of male faces. In the shock of our arrival, everyone fell silent, even the bloody livestock. It was one of the most terrifying silences I've ever heard. But, we were "Westerners" and what the merchants might be able to sell us won out over our chromosomes and all was soon well.

Or the time that "He Who shall Not Be Named" and myself climbed an active volcano in South America. We'd stopped briefly for some photos on a grassy knoll near a small stand of trees. As we later made our descent, we found that the trees had been cut and the hill leveled to start the makings of a road. We were the last two people to stand on that hill or feel the shade of those trees or walk that path in its present incarnation. It was a sad and powerful moment.

I became slightly misty. Oh the carefree days of youth and travel.

But then I realized how great it was that I even had the privilege of having these experiences. I had to live in order to collect them.

We may mourn the loss of great skin or small butts or boundless energy, but our accumulation of days, months, and years gives us knowledge, wisdom, patience, and experience -- as well as experiences. Some really cool ones.

We may find ourselves in places unexpected or even imagined by our twenty-year-old selves. Sometimes life can get the better of us and we get swallowed up by the day-to-day grind, sometimes even feeling like the best of life may have passed us by, but that simply isn't true.

Do I really want to suffer with food poisoning on a small island off the coast of Portugal from eating bad street vendor food? I like that I'm fussier about what goes into my body now I'm older. But I'm thrilled that I had the experience, it makes a great story.

If we can be present and seek gratitude - I mean be really grateful for our lives and everything in them, I believe that more will come for us to be grateful for. We can then turn in the direction of our dreams and before we know it, we'll look up and realize that perhaps the best is still ahead.

My parents worked incredibly hard while I was growing up. I didn't know it then, but later learned how seriously unhappy my dad was in his job. My parents owned their business and it did well, but if they didn't have to keep a roof over our heads and food on our table, perhaps my parents would have done other things. My mom is a brilliant decorator. She never went to school or did this for a living, but she is a born natural. She just has a knack for light, color, choosing the perfect furniture and art to compliment any room. My dad's a gifted artist.

Now, years after we've all grown and moved out, they are able to do some of the things that passed them by when they were my age. Dad had his first art show at the age of 70, my mom now the same age has just decorated (from scratch) a beautiful new townhouse and it's stunning.

We never know what life will hold or even how long we've got, but I'll tell you something... I'm eager about what's to come. Walter Mitty reminded me that everything is possible. And while I will likely never summit the real Mount Everest, I've still got a few climbs left in me.

xo
Shan