Yes, I’m a year behind, but I recently just watched The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. If you haven’t seen it, stop what you are doing and head to your nearest Red Box. You will absolutely love it. This movie is funny, moving, weird, and most of all inspirational. It takes place during the printing of the last issue of Time magazine and follows the life of a man who’s day to day routine is nothing special but has extraordinary day dreams and imagines the way he wishes his life would go. Then the day dreams start to become reality as he goes on a worldwide search for a lost negative for the final cover issue. The photographer who took it describes it as the “Quintessence of Life”. And this search inevitably transforms who he is as a person.

The motto of Life magazine is a theme throughout the movie, “To see the world, things dangerous to come to, to see behind walls, draw closer, to find each other, and to feel. That is the purpose of life.” And isn’t that what we all want? In a culture that records everything that happens to us don’t we all wish to see? But in seeing how often do we find each other? This movie, above all, made me want to pause. It made me want to stop the constant uploads, throw a roll of film in my old Nikon, and jump on a plane. To slow down and wait for the perfect shot. And sometimes to just be in the moment and not even push the shutter. I often see life through my lens, but not often enough do I pause to draw closer and connect with the thing I’m seeing. There is a beautiful connection that happens when you have a camera in your hand, and in some ways the digital age has taken away that magic – the one shot, one negative, one copy of that moment that only happens once. And to not even know what the image looks like until the whole roll has been taken, the trip is over.

Sometimes life happens to quickly for me. I look up and the year is half gone and amazing memories have been made, but how often did I just stay in the moment, hold my breath and wait for the perfect exposure. Not often enough. There is beauty all around us and daily I fail to notice. This movie inspired me to slow down, to take notice, and sometimes to not click the shutter.

Image from Brighton the Day

The other thing I loved about this movie is that it is a movie for dreamers. People who imagine what their life could be and chase after it. Again, old Nikon, film, a plane, and me. And while I’m not actually running off to Iceland, I am chasing a huge exciting dream. One that inspires me, motivates me, occupies my mind constantly, and is being realized on a daily basis. I get to be a photographer. I get to capture moments that only happen once. I get to pause and connect with those on the other side of my lens. And what a great feeling that is. To stop and see, to feel. And while there is no longer only one negative but digital copies circulating every where – there is still that deep breath, pause, click, and the memory is preserved. What a beautiful thing.

And so, for all the dreamers out there as you are chasing down the life you want, remember to stop, pause and see the beauty in today and in the every day. Run, hustle, work hard, but take the time to stop, breathe, and remember, not with an Instagram, but how you see it and take it in. And like Shonda Rhimes said in her wonderful Dartmouth commencement speech – Don’t just dream. Do. Stop sitting around and waiting but go make your dream happen. (Paraphrasing. Watch the whole thing here.) So go explore the world, take in the amazingness in the everyday, and make your dream happen.

Images from Pinterest. No original source.