Embrace the Unexpected

I was on the Peninsula this past weekend, celebrating Thanksgiving with my extended family. Sunday morning, my nephews snuggled on the sofa with me while we watched Monsters vs. Aliens. (Monsters vs. Aliens is an animated film starring the voice of Reese Witherspoon as Susan Murphy, an ordinary woman who is about to get married. On her wedding day, a meteorite strikes her; she absorbs a substance called quantonium, and grows into a giantess.)

I pondered the movie on the way home (I enjoy pondering) and determined that there are several messages in the movie that are important pieces of living a vital life. The first is simply that the unexpected always happens. A meteorite hits Susan on her wedding day! No matter how hard we try to fully control our lives, we can never see completely around the next corner.

The second is when Susan embraces her new life. This is after she successfully defeated the robot, and her fiancé just broke off their engagement because he’s afraid her new life will overshadow his career. At this point, she realizes that she has strengths she didn’t know she had, sees the imperfections in the life that is behind her, and is excited about the possibilities of her new life as a giantess. This transition always occurs in the journey to vital leadership when we fully accept ourselves as we are, realize we have untapped strengths, and can live more vital lives.

Next, Susan loses her super human strength, but overcomes her fear, maintains her courage and intelligence, and outsmarts the Alien’s plan to take over the Earth. This phase comes when you fully own the strengths you’ve always carried, and tap into your emotional battery center (known in its scientific form as the emotional experiential memory, or EEM.) This emotional battery center helps you overcome fear and resistance, which then motivates you to move out of complacency or fear, and into a new phase of life.

Finally, Susan knowingly reabsorbs the quantonium, and regains her giantess stature and strength so she can save her friends and the planet. This phase of our lives occurs when we overcome our fear and resistance to being “different” and fully accept our role as leaders of our lives and in our world.

Vital leadership is a hero’s journey. There will be difficulties, sorrows, fear, challenges, and obstacles to overcome. All heroes and heroines must face their dragons! But true warriors press on, tap into their courage and strengths, and push through to the next challenge. So next time an unexpected obstacle shows up in your life, look for the silver hidden in the cloud. Uncover the lesson, accept the new, and step into the next phase of your journey.