100 Days of Wonder – #97
Kath has finished work. I just have Monday morning to do and I am now most definitely in Disney mode. I have packed (and re-packed and again) and have turned my attention to the hand luggage and more last minute kind of things. I charged and update our Magic Bands. The picture is mine and I am actually really looking forward to my life basically working through a light up Pride wristband. It will unlock our room door, allow entry into the parks, act as a payment device, hold our memory maker pass for photos…
I can leave my wallet and my phone safely tucked up in the hotel safe and somehow that is glorious. We so rarely do anything without having our phones and sometimes it is good to disconnect, not be contactable. I was skeptical of Magic Bands. I didn’t really like the idea of everything being linked to it but I soon got used to it and the interactive elements on them bring me joy and make me smile. So in just a few days my life essentially run through this little thing and I shall wear it with Pride, Wonder and Joy.
100 Days of Wonder – #96
It was time to go back to work today. I wasn’t hugely looking forward to it. I don’t like working with a slightly foggy depression brain. It makes me worry I’ll miss something. But I have had fun finalising some teaching materials and activities that I am looking forward to trying out with my students from the end of January. But of course it is hard to focus with the Disney trip looming. I have tried to keep reminding myself today that the attention to detail I love about Disney is the level I want to be working towards. If it is worth doing, then it is worth doing right. So just like when working on our LEGO, I have been trying to work through my to do list methodically and with purpose, mindful of each task and activity and giving it the attention it deserves. I am trying not to start the work year rushing from one thing to the next and juggling multiple tasks at the same time because that just sucks the joy out of it all. And remarkable I have got quite a lot done today but have felt relaxed and like I have been taking it pretty easy. It’s been a good workday. So here’s to doing things right and to celebrate that here’s a picture of me post Dopey Challenge 2016 finding joy and wonder outside the Disney Springs LEGO store.
100 Days of Wonder – #95
Hope. Disney gives me hope that a better world is possible. That might sound completely bonkers. And maybe it is. But Disney tells good stories – whether through its films, series or in the parks. Of course historically some of them have been hugely problematic and some continue to be a long way from perfect. But more recently Disney is trying to do better, tell better more inclusive stories. Doing better and trying harder is always cause for hope. And the more hopeful the stories the more inspiring and impactful. Maybe telling good stories helps us change the world for the better.
Disney understands suspending reality and the need for escapism and magic. And the more we can give ourselves over to that every now and again, the better. It helps us remember what hope feels like, what could be.
As I said yesterday, I am struggling a little with depression. It’s not really bad and it is easing. Today was better than yesterday. I am trying to look forward to time spent believing in the magic and maybe joining Peter Pan for a flight towards the “second star to the right, and straight on till morning.” And somehow that helps because depression tells one set of stories and Disney helps me tell a different set of stories that are at least as likely as the narrative that depression would have me believe. So Happy New Year. May 2025 be full of beautiful, brave, mundane, every day stories that help you believe in your own magic.
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