It’s Not Always As It Seems (1.8.23)

Last night we introduced Silas to one of the movies my sister and I used to watch all of the time growing up, Labyrinth and I couldn’t help but notice an important message: things aren’t always they seem.

If you haven’t seen the cult classic, it’s a highly creative tale about a teenage girl on a quest to find and save her baby brother from a goblin king. The majority of the characters are muppets by Jim Henson and the main character is Jennifer Connelly (interestingly enough earlier in the night we had on the latest Top Gun which also has Connelly in it).

Early in the quest to make it to the castle where her brother is being held, Connelly struggles to find her way out of a path and into the actual labyrinth only to find an opening right in front of her. With the help of a talking work who explains to her that “things aren’t always as they seem” in the labyrinth she realizes one of the brick walls is actually an illusion hiding an entrance into the maze.

Connelly was so sure that labyrinth was a certain way—the way she perceived it, that she missed not only the hole in the wall she eventually found, but countless others.

How many opportunities have we missed because we’ve been blind to what was actually in front of us because we were so sure of how we thought things were?

Later in the quest, Connelly has a conversation with a character and shares her frustration that she is not making any progress. The character shares with her, “Quite often is seems like we’re getting anywhere, when in fact we are.”

Again, it was not as it seemed to her.

You might find yourself frustrated today that you’re not where you think you are supposed to be. We often assign milestones that are to be accomplished by a certain age and if we aren’t where we think we’re supposed to be then we question the progress we’ve made in life. But if you were take some time to examine of all that you have accomplished in your life, or over a given time period, you might surprise yourself with how far you’ve actually come. You might even be closer to the goal than you realize.

Imagine you could go back to your younger Self—what would they say about the person you have become?

Chances are your younger Self would be impressed with where you are and you’d see the incredible progress you’ve made.

Remember, things aren’t always as they seem and you are further along your journey than you think.

One random thought to end on…the fact that I loved this creative movie makes me wonder if I’ve always had the creativity I’ve found in the last few years in me 🤷‍♂️?

See you tomorrow and keep pursuing,

JC