100 Days of Wonder – #5
When I was a child it never occurred to me that there might be something I couldn’t do or be because I was a girl. Gendered toys and activities just weren’t consciously a part of my life and the idea of women being disadvantaged and the implications of living in a patriarchy hit me much much later, embarrassingly later, like in my very late teens later. I had wonderful strong women around me in real life and in the books I devoured. Although the last point might not be true. Maybe the heroes of my books weren’t girls or women, or at least not often, maybe I just didn’t care or really notice. Maybe in my fantasy world it really didn’t matter and in my imagination I could be whoever I wanted to me in whatever story I was in. But that was my imagination, encouraged by those around me to run wild without constraints of being told that something wasn’t for me. Seeing strong, flawed, complex, real female characters on screen gives me joy, (and I am not saying Marvel characters always have all of that) but not necessarily just because representation is important for those whose imagination isn’t allowed to run wild. It gives me joy because I can close my eyes, give a nod to the 7 year old me and tell her ‘The world catches up with what you already know eventually – everyone can be a superhero’.
100 Days of Wonder – #4
If something is worth doing, it is worth doing right. Attention to detail and bothering with detail in the first place makes a difference to how people feel. I am utterly useless at attention to detail in the way it is generally used in the professional sense. I’m big picture and ideas not crossing Ts and dotting Is. I can’t proof read to save my life but I am good at the detail of life. I am good at doing the people things right and creating the space for their magic to happen. Seeing detail like the detail in the lamp makes me smile. Disney didn’t have to do this but they did. It reminds me to stop and think about what little detail might make someone smile today. How can I add just a little bit of pixie dust to someone’s day. Sometimes it was as simple as knowing a student’s name, thanking a colleague for their efforts or sending a text or email to check in with someone for no other reason than because you were thinking about them. I think about my friends and colleagues all the time. I’ll try pause more to let them know how amazing I think they are. Spreading a little joy really isn’t that difficult!
100 Days of Wonder – #3
In spite of the smile in the photo, I hated most (all?) of my first Disney race. It was a half marathon. Training had been awful, I hated running and I did it only because we were doing it for charity. Our friend Rachel had died the previous year and nothing much made any sense. The run was for her. I look back at that run with wonder and awe. At this point the only thing running had taught me was that I hated running. I don’t know how I did it. I don’t know how I got round. I had no clue what I was doing. That woman in that picture there – she had so much mental strength, she was so determined to finish and she crossed the finish line purely because doing anything else would have been unthinkable. On this occasion doing the impossible wasn’t fun, not at all. But I look back at this picture and smile. It’s the perfect reminder that we are always stronger than we think we are. I suspect that this run also set the scene for what is now a more than 10 year love/hate relationship with running and with RunDisney in particular. I look at 2013 me with so much admiration that I sometimes forget that’s me. But it is and I find both joy and wonder in that.
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