Are you living in a cave?

As a proud mom of four, ranging in age from 5 to 17…I can admit that 95% of the flicks that I see are animated. Honestly – I love the creativity and cleverness of writers, animators and producers in this genre.

And sometimes a kid-flick departs the ‘formula’ and shocks me in a totally profound way.

This was the case with The Croods, a fun portrayal of the only surviving cave family.

No, I’m not writing a movie review blog. But when I saw this movie on opening weekend  – I emailed myself 19 different times during the show with ideas and quotes i wanted to remember and use.

However, I was framing it from a business perspective, the entrepreneur frame of mind. That’s who I am. It’s what I do.

And yet- I set the post to draft and kept hesitating to ‘publish’ …but I wasn’t sure WHY I was resisting.

Now, I know.

Disaster. News. Crisis. Current Events. Terrorism. Accidents. Tragedy.

Our televisions and social streams have been literally going crazy with the events of late. And as media consumers and participants in the interactivity of it all — we have more vested in our souls and brains that we would have, even 5 short years ago.

And all that being said   — I  see a trend.

A trend in caution. A trend in suspicion. A trend in paralysis. A trend in fear.

Now back to The Croods, a family led by Cave Dad whose motto is “Never NOT Be Afraid.”

Read that again.

Never NOT Be Afraid.

His main thought is ‘survival’ and he says over and over ‘Fear keeps us alive. Stop looking for new things. New things are bad. Curiosity kills.”

His daughter Eep, is pretty convinced that there is life beyond the cave. She hates the confines and hates the dark and wants to see light, and beautiful things and….chase the sun towards tomorrow.

Now…what I find super fascinating is the timing of this!! The writers & producers of this film had no idea what we would be dealing with this week, this month, this year.

• They couldn’t know that Colorado made us second-guess going to midnight movies.
• They didn’t realize that Sandy Hook would make us list out the pros & cons of homeschool vs public school.
• It never crossed their minds that an iconic marathon might be turned into a battlefield.
• And I’m certain they weren’t aware that in a tiny town in Texas, a fire would lead to an epic explosion, creating chaos and confusion.

“Never NOT Be Afraid.”

That’s what he says. That is what keeps him alive, the fear of risk, the fear of new, the fear of beautiful.

We could do the same. We could hide in our caves, extinguish our flames and focus on ‘surviving.’

But as daughter Eep so eloquently says ‘Dad, this isn’t LIVING, this is just NOT dying!’

Yes, we will mourn our comfort zone. Yes, we will be watchful. Yes, we will laud our heroes.

But we cannot adopt the mantra ‘Never Not Be Afraid.’

During a particularly scary trek in the film, there are two distinct voices urging the family on.  One says ‘Never Not Be Afraid’ and the other says ‘You Can Do This! Believe It”

I think we all have those same 2 voices. (I know I do.)

Which voice will you listen to?

• In relationships.
• In business.
• In school.
• In parenting.
• In leaving our cave to participate in LIFE.

Which voice?
“Never Not Be Afraid” or “You Can Do This!”

I may not be guaranteed tomorrow. But that is where I’m headed, whatever it may hold.

The uncertain, uncharted, unsure path of LIVING.

Please share if this strikes a chord with you or gives you food for thought. Then let me know below what voice you’ll listen to and how you will move forward.