Zootopia revived my entrepreneurial spirit.

This is the last thing I expected to be writing about tonight.

I watched this movie with my daughter yesterday. It hasn’t left my mind since. To be fair, I love a good Disney movie.

But the message hit me hard.

Let’s do a quick recap.

Zootopia is about a bunny whose dream is to be a police officer in the city. The only problem? There’s never been a bunny cop before. That didn’t stop her, though. In fact, when her parents tried to tell her this, her reply was:

“Well, I guess I’ll be the first.”

So she goes to the academy, works her ass off, and never quits. Even when everyone tells her to. After she gets her badge, the film explores her ongoing defiance of who others think she should be.

Ultimately, she proves to herself (and everyone else) that she is absolutely capable of achieving her goals.

Her self-belief is louder than everyone’s doubt.

I found this moving.

It’s one thing to push yourself to do hard things. But to truly back yourself, to truly believe that you can make it happen, when everyone is telling you otherwise? That is bloody hard.

And let’s be real for a second…

Most of us are heavily influenced by the people around us. We’re scared of what they’ll think, what they’ll say to us (or behind our back), if we go against the grain. So it’s no surprise that most of us don’t take the risk.

We don’t believe in ourselves.

Instead we daydream about the trip we want to take, or the business we’d love to start, or the hobby we think is awesome but don’t think we’d be any good at. We talk in “one day’s.” But eventually, those “one day’s” turn into “if only I had’s.”

Because while we sit and worry about what others think?

Time slips away.

Fast.

But this bunny didn’t fall prey (lol pun intended) to this fear. She took consistent action towards what she wanted. Even if it was unrealistic. Even if it didn’t make sense to others.

She believed.

And that was enough.

It’s been a powerful lesson for me in how we ultimately own our identity. We can own our story.

But only if (and it’s a big if) we can do two things:

1. Accept that others will try to tell you who you are

2. Make your self-belief so loud it drowns them out

Simple, right?

Please know I’m aware it’s a lot easier for a cartoon bunny to fight against these limiting beliefs than for us in the real world.

But I think the lesson is sound.

I spent the first part of my adult life making decisions based on what I thought others would want for me. I let them write my story. I let them decide who I was.

It’s scary to think about, but it’s my truth.

In the last few years, I’ve had the opportunity to start shifting the narrative. Trying swimming and running, when previously I had a story that my body wasn’t “built for” these sports. Completing a paint by number after being told art wasn’t my strong suit.

Most recently, it’s been through me taking what feels like the biggest risk of my life.

Starting a coaching business.

Coaching is a skill I’ve developed throughout my personal life as the friend people consistently reach out to for support. It’s a skill I had the privilege of refining further with a financial education business who took me on as one of their coaches.

It’s the work I feel the most aligned in that I ever have.

But it feels less concrete than any other job I’ve had in the past. It doesn’t have the credential feel of ‘speech pathologist’, the title I’ve held for the last 5 years. And that scares the shit out of me.

So if I could embody even a fraction of the self-belief this bunny had to defy all expectations to become a cop?

I’d be pretty proud.

I guess the main reason I’m writing this tonight is as a reference point. A place to come back to when the negative self-talk starts to overwhelm me.

Because if Judy Hopps can become a police officer in Zootopia…

What the bloody hell is stopping me from going after my dreams?