Inside Out (Disney film)

I've never really enjoyed Pixar movies because I don't find 3D animation as engaging as 2D animation styles. However, many, many people told me to watch Disney's Inside Out.

This movie is about a girl named Riley whose family moves to a new city. Relocating and leaving your friends is a difficult and pretty heavy experience during those formative years. At one point, Riley's mother praises her for staying positive through everything. This encourages Riley to suppress the inevitable "negative" emotions that come with a big life change. While the story's backbone is Riley's life, we spend more time following Riley's 5 emotions:

• Joy
• Sadness
• Anger
• Fear
• Disgust

The chief emotion in Riley's head is Joy. She appears to have a stronger role than the other emotions. I'd even go so far to say that Joy is too controlling. For example, in one scene she attempts to confine Sadness to a circle drawn on the floor so that sad feelings don't contaminate Riley's positive outlook. She didn't want to let down Riley's mother. "Stay positive," she reminds us.

If you've seen this movie, you'll recognize the following image. In this scene, Riley's imaginary friend Bingbong suffers a loss of sorts and is brought to a deep nostalgia for the past. Joy tries to lift his spirits a number of times, but it doesn't work. Sadness steps in, and then Joy tells her she's going to make him feel worse. Sadness begins to empathize with Bingbong's sad feelings, and that's when Bingbong begins to feel better. The message here is illustrated through Sadness taking a moment to sit in that sad feeling with him. All of our emotions deserve recognition, not just happiness. Joy notices the moment between Bingbong and Sadness, and she begins to understand the importance of Sadness.

The reason I bring up this movie is because it entered my life when I was trying to combat all of my depressed feelings with happiness. I was so sick of my darkness that I basically stared into the sun for a couple of years. Imagine blinding yourself just to avoid seeing shadows. The difficulty of making our way through darkness is inevitable. Emotions like anger and sadness will exist either above or below the surface. Trying to hide them won't erase them. They'll be lurking somewhere. Mine eventually blew up in my face like a balloon that was filled to max capacity.

While depression feels like a burden, we grow when we find ways to survive. Some days that's all we do, and other days we stand taller and fall in love with being alive.

I guess all I'm trying to say here is that darkness is a blessing on its own. The difficult things we deal with help us connect to others who may be feeling low. We don't need to live in a state opposite of depression; we need to live wherever we are. Some of the best things we can do for ourselves and for the world are acknowledging, accepting, and processing the honest emotions we feel. Once we learn to tolerate the darkness we possess, we can help others learn how to live with theirs.

As always, friends, stay well. Even if today isn't a great day, I'm happy you're here. :)