The Power of Vision

A few weeks ago I watched Disney’s The Kid. Wow! Who knew a Disney movie could change my life!

I haven’t seen this movie since it first came out over twenty years ago. When I first saw it I remember thinking it was a cute movie and nothing more.

This time it was a completely new experience.

When viewed from a coaching perspective The Kid teaches important concepts about letting go of our past, forgiving our past self and others, believing in ourself, not letting our past dictate our future, and, the one I’d like to focus on, VISION.

As a child, the main character named Russ, or Rusty as a child, believed that his life would be successful if he was married, was a pilot, and had a dog. Due to the trauma from his childhood, Russ never does any of those things and turn into an unhappy, bitter, and mean person. On the eve of his 40th birthday, young Rusty appears from the past to the adult Russ. Through this visit Russ discovers a lot about himself and begins to heal.

A defining point in the movie for Russ is when he sees a vision of himself about 30 years from now with a wife, a dog, and a plane that he pilots. It is because of this vision that Russ decides to heal his relationship with the woman he loves, get a dog, and eventually become a pilot.

Without this vision we can assume that Russ probably would not have had the motivation to pursue any of these dreams.

I believe we are all like Russ to a certain extent. We all dreamed about what we would do when we grew up, yet as we grew up, life happened, trauma happened, people disappointed us, and we may have lost that vision of ourself and what we could accomplish.

Michelangelo said “The greatest danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it.”

What do you have to lose by reevaluating your life and casting an amazing vision of the future for yourself? There may be some emotions such a disappointment, fatigue, and frustration as we set out to realize our vision. But . . . there also might be some even better emotions such as happiness, excitement, accomplishment, and joy when we actually reach that vision.