4 Take Homes from The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

What are you waiting for?

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about 3 Essentials for Finding Meaning in the Mundane.  Shortly after writing this post, I watched The Secret Life of Walter Mitty for the first time.  In the movie, Walter Mitty (played by Ben Stiller) seems to be trapped in his own mundane world.  His fear of failure along with his inability to connect with reality keeps him locked in a world of daydreams and unrealized adventure.

I loved the movie.  I think it was inspiring, and I think it is a great reminder for all of us stuck in the ordinary.  Here are a few things I took home from the movie:

4 Take Homes from The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

  1. We need to get busy living or get busy dying.  Walter Mitty lived in a daydream world.  He seemed to be withering away as he pulled away socially from reality.  He was missing out on a life worth living.  I don’t want that kind of life, and I think he realized he didn’t want that kind of life either.
  2. A life of adventure requires continuous leaps of faith.  Walter jumped on a plane to fly to Greenland.  He jumped in a helicopter to fly out to a ship.  Then he jumped out of the helicopter into the cold waters of the Atlantic Ocean.  These jumps are a great reminder that we also need to take leaps.  A leap of faith can be scary.  And a leap of faith can be exhilarating.  More than anything a leap of faith provides the opportunity to take the next step in the adventure of life.
  3. Sometimes what we are looking for is right in front of our faces.  In the movie, Walter goes on a mission to find a missing negative of a photo that is destined to land on the front page of the last print issue of Life magazine.  He travels to Greenland and Iceland in an effort to track down the negative.  Eventually, he discovers that the negative is actually in a wallet given to him by the photographer (played by Sean Penn).  Sometimes we are guilty of going on wild goose chases in an effort to discover our life purpose or to find the next big thing for our lives.  Maybe we need to look around right where we are.  The purpose or the next big thing may be right in front of our faces.
  4. What we do matters.  Sometimes it feels like we’re stuck doing the same thing day after day.  We don’t feel appreciated, and we often don’t feel recognized.  At the end of the movie, a photo of Walter Mitty ends up on the cover of Life magazine.  The picture shows Walter looking at pictures for the magazine.  Walter was responsible for handling the photos for the magazine for the past thirty years.  These photos inspired readers for decades, and Walter played a key role in making them part of the magazine.  What he did mattered.  Take time to inventory your impact.  What you are doing matters.  You are making a difference.  Don’t underestimate the amazing impact you are having!

I look forward to watching the movie again.  It definitely found a place on my list of favorite movies.

Did you see The Secret Life of Walter Mitty?  What was one of your take homes from the movie?

What movie from your list of favorites do I need to see next?