What the Disney Princesses and Andy Bernard got wrong

And no, this is not a post about body image

“I wish there was a way to know you're in ‘the good old days’, before you've actually left them.” - Andy Bernard (From NBC’s The Office)

Andy Bernard’s value add to The Office series lies (IMO) primarily in the warning that he, as a character, provides. How NOT to think is highlighted in the quote above. Andy missed the whole point. Like Andy, we go through life thinking about the “good old days” instead of living them. The “good old days,” for the purposes of this post, can either be past, future, or present. For example, I’m currently in my second year of law school, and I regularly fall into the trap of thinking I’ll be happier when my writing project is done. Or that life will be better over winter/summer break. Or when I’m graduated and making money.

In the words of the Disney Princesses:

Rapunzel:

“When will my life begin?”

Ariel:

“What would I give if I could live out of these waters? … Up where they walk, up where they run … Part of that world”

Pocahontas:

“Why do all my dreams extend … Just around the riverbend?”

Blonde, red-headed, or brunette, it affects us all.

We pass through life, thinking about the next step instead of about the one we’re on. It’s probably only natural to look at where we’re headed. And it’s probably a good thing to be excited about the future. But there is also something to be said for enjoying the season (and moment) that we are currently experiencing. And that’s what this post is about.

Zen master and mindfulness teacher Thich Nhat Hanh highlights the dangers of not living in the moment:

“If while washing dishes, we think only of the cup of tea that awaits us, thus hurrying to get the dishes out of the way as if they were a nuisance, then we are not “washing the dishes to wash the dishes.” What’s more, we are not alive during the time we are washing the dishes. In fact we are completely incapable of realizing the miracle of life while standing at the sink. If we can’t wash the dishes, the chances are we won’t be able to drink our tea either. While drinking the cup of tea, we will only be thinking of other things, barely aware of the cup in our hands. Thus we are sucked away into the future—and we are incapable of actually living one minute of life.”

Author James Clear similarly says:

“Many people view their habits and routines as obstacles or, at the very least, obligations to get through. Making the morning coffee, driving your kids to the next activity, preparing the next meal—we often see our routines as chores to be completed.

But these are not moments to be dismissed. They are life. Making coffee can be a peaceful ritual—perhaps even a fulfilling one—if done with care rather than rushed to completion. It’s about the amount of attention you devote to these simple moments, and whether you choose to appreciate them or bulldoze through them on the way to the next task.

Find the beauty and joy in your daily rituals and you will find beauty and joy in your daily life. To love your habits is to love your days, and to love your days is to love your life.”

The Disney Princesses missed the boat. They thought that life would be better once X happened.

But what if life is really good right now? And we just keep zombie-ing our way from a A to B, when both A and B are both the good old days.

In Terrence Malick’s Tree of Life, Mrs. O’Brien via voiceover comments on nature and grace. Opposite virtues in many ways, nature being the Andy Bernard of the two.

“Nature only wants to please itself. Get others to please it too. Likes to lord it over them. To have its own way. It finds reasons to be unhappy when all the world is shining around it. And love is smiling through all things.”

And now, I’ll leave you with a similar take by Tracy Adkins:

Enjoy the rest of today. It is, in fact, the good old days.

Thanks for reading post #2.