“Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending.” — Maria Robinson
He’s big. He’s green. He tries to do the right thing. His name is Shrek.
I finally got to see Shrek Forever After. It reminded me a bit of It’s a Wonderful Life with a twist. Shrek is tired of the routine and wants a change of pace.
He wants just one day to be an ogre again.
He makes a deal with Rumpelstiltskin to trade a day from his past, for one day to romp and play without his everyday responsibilities.
The problem is Rumplestilskin is a shady guy with some hidden agendas.
Why is it that striking a deal with shady characters never works out how we planned?
Here are my three take ways from Shrek Forever After:
1. You don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone.
It really can be hard to know the value of what’s right in front of you until it’s not there anymore. You might even be surprised by what you miss. Shrek had it all and didn’t appreciate it enough until it was gone. Another way to look at it is, things can always be worse. Maybe if Shrek practiced some more attitude of gratitude he could have coped better with his day to day frustration? After all, he was living a fairy tale.
2. If something seems too good to be true, it probably is.
Poor Shrek. I learned this lesson too after falling for too many scams. Now, I know how to check my gut, check the fine print, and when in doubt, I get another pair of eyes on it. When you know the right questions to ask or the evidence to look for, you can almost always find the scam.
3. True love isn’t always love at first sight.
Sometimes you have to get to know someone, to love someone. It was nice to see a fairy tale show another path to the heart.
We all have those days where the grass looks greener somewhere else. I think those are the day we really have to look at what we have right in front of us.