What is the next right thing?

     Hey friends, I have a question for you all today. How do you know when you're ready to take the next step? In any situation, be it a romantic relationship, a job that you want to become more involved with, a project that you want to do, how do you know when you're ready for it? Sometimes these realizations come in moments where things seem the bleakest that they've ever looked, when a change has to be made, or you'll be crushed. In the smash box office hit, Frozen 2, Anna faces a similar situation.

    Elsa is dead, Olaf has come undone without Elsa's magic, Kristoff hasn't been in the movie for the past 40 minutes because the writers didn't know what to do with him in this film. Anna doesn't know if there's any way back from what has occurred to her friends or family, her life seems completely hopeless. It would be so easy for her to just give in to the feeling of helplessness and just cry, but instead she focuses on the need to keep going and push on, despite how hard it is to do so. The song that she sings in this moment is called "The Next Right Thing," and it's not a song you'll hear at Karaoke, and not one that the kids will be singing over and over again at the top of their lungs like "Let It Go," but it's one of the most beautiful and difficult songs that has come out of Disney in quite some time. I'm not here to praise Frozen 2 today, it has some issues in terms of having a cohesive narrative, but in this moment and many others like it in this movie, it sets out to accomplish a goal, and it does it in a pretty interesting way.  Friends, it's hard to figure out what you want to do. It can be scary and even seem impossible to take those important steps out of the darkness and into the light, and even once you do, there's never any guarantee that your step will be in the right direction.

    I am certainly no expert on this topic, as I've been struggling with it for a long time now. In the past year, I've found something that I think I'm pretty good at, so I'm working towards that next right thing as we speak. Who knows if this is what I'm meant to do, or if that eventual thing will even be related to this chapter in my life, but I can say that I'm continuing to work on myself and am happy with who I am, what I'm doing, and even who I'm working with. I really hope that you're doing the same. 

    This is very different from my normal writings, but I feel it's important to have some reflection every now and then. After a few posts of heavy news reporting from different sources and regarding different things, it's good to come back into your thoughts and sit with yourself for a time. Obviously, I'm not in a dark place like Anna towards the climax of Frozen 2 (which does end on a happy note, I should say), I'm pretty happy with what I'm doing and where I am right now, but it's always good to continue doing the next right thing. It takes a lot of thought and action to do it, but it's always important. I hope you'll have a good week, friends! I'm Jonathan, a Self-Proclaimed Dreamer, and I'll talk to you again soon.