Initially, I didn’t really see the appeal. I was raised on The Little Mermaid and Peter Pan and Beauty & the Beast. In the history of Disney films, Frozen isn’t exactly at the top of the heap for me.
Things began to crumble almost immediately after the start of the new year. I went through everything from job search issues to health issues. I decided to move home after graduation. Things continued to crumble. Sometimes I wondered if the universe had accidentally dropped my life down a flight of stairs.
I began to watch Frozen a lot during the summer. There was something about it that was suddenly endearing to me, and I couldn’t figure out exactly what. All I knew was that it became my go-to feel-good film.
A couple of weeks before Thanksgiving, I went to a live local talk show. Before the show officially started, there was an opening act. One of the members of the team that does the show, a man named Jim, came down the main aisle of the theater we were in, dressed in drag. As Elsa. He performed a rousing (lip-synced) rendition of “Let It Go,” complete with “ice” (cans of febreze sprayed by a man dressed as Olaf) coming from his hands.
At the end of his performance, the entire audience was asked to come to the front of the stage and let go of something by writing it on a large piece of poster board. In return they were given a blue bracelet with the words “Let It Go” pressed into it.
On the poster board I wrote “job and financial stress,” but I let go of so much more that day. Things started to change for the better. They weren’t perfect, but I was starting to let things go. And that was what mattered.
Over the last few days, as I have begun the reflection process I have discovered that there is a lot I need to let go of in order to have a successful 2015. If I don’t let go of these things – if I don’t move on from them and leave them behind – I’ll spend 2015 as I spent much of 2014: angry and frustrated and sad. And I don’t want to be those things anymore.
I’ve worn my “Let It Go” bracelet every day since that local talk show. I look at it every morning and I remind myself that I still have things I need to let go of. And even though the rational part of me knows that I won’t wake up on January 1 with a feeling of freedom, I imagine that I will. That come January 1 I will have let go of everything bothering me and I can truly make 2015 a year of growth.
So here’s to letting things go, no matter how long it takes. Here’s to growth and moving on. May you be able to let go of whatever is holding you back and be exactly who you need to be in the coming year.