Avatar...a Dream Come True

Last weekend I saw the movie Avatar. The running time is nearly three hours but it certainly didn’t feel like I was in the theater for that long. To be honest, it wasn’t a movie that I would have chosen to see, but the family voted and I was outnumbered. So, as usual, I took one for the team. That’s what moms do. So, I went there with minimal expectations. In fact, I was prepared to get in a comfortable position, strategically place my hair in front of my eyes, pull my little blanket up around my neck and catch up on some much needed z’s. Well, that never happened. The movie was fantastic. The storyline was great, the characters were memorable, it was loaded with action, the graphics and special effects were amazing! Best of all, it was a love story. There was something in the movie to captivate each one of us. Now that’s what I call a “family meal deal!”
Ok, I’m beginning to sound like a movie reviewer so I’ll try to get to the point. Well, after seeing the movie, I went back and looked at some of the interviews with the director, James Cameron. In one of the interviews Mr. Cameron said that he had created the blue alien-like characters decades ago. The screenplay was complete way back when he racked up all those Oscar awards for the movie “Titanic.” So, one might ask “why did he wait so long to make the movie?” Get this: Mr. Cameron says that there was no way to create what he envisioned for the movie…the technology simply did not exist. In a nutshell he’s saying that the world wasn’t ready for his dream. Instead of shortchanging himself by settling for less, he waited, and waited, and waited. While he waited, he worked on other projects, talked with people who could understand and support his vision, and studied his craft so that he would be able to make a cutting-edge movie when the time was right. That was ten years ago. Avatar was in production for over four years. Some of us don’t want to wait four months to realize our dreams!
If you have a dream that you truly believe in don’t let anything stand in your way…not even reality. Anything is possible. Don’t be in a hurry to actualize your dream. Sometimes, your dream is so big that even you have trouble believing it is meant to be anything more. Guess what? If you don’t believe it, no one else will. On the flip side, Mr. Cameron didn’t stop living trying to make it happen. He continued to work on other things, and in the process won some Oscars. That means that he put in an amazing amount of hard work to do those things that may not have been as important to him as Avatar. Nonetheless, he realized that if you are going to do anything, you should do it well…or don’t do it at all.
So keep your day job (at least for now.) Do your job to the best of your ability. You are there for a reason. Don’t be so self-indulged that you stop seeing the people around you. It’s the people who you meet that will help you to get your big dream off the ground. You’ll get confidence, feedback, advice and referrals that you may never have received had you not traveled the road you’re on. You’ll even get criticized—and sometimes it will help you to sharpen your vision. Other times, it will help you to realize who’s really in your corner. Your dream is not one to be put on the back burner and left to scorch, but you may have to put it on a low simmer and keep stirring slowly and adding a few spices here and there until it’s just right. Whatever you do, don't stop stirring and don't leave it there too long!