It’s time for another Disney lesson! I’ve mentioned in the past that everyone can learn something from Disney movies, and I stand firmly on that position. Today’s message comes from The Princess and the Frog (spoilers ahead). In case you’ve never watched it, it is a tale about a woman, named Tiana, from New Orleans and a Prince from a fictional far away land called Maldonia who get turned in to frogs. In the beginning of the movie we learn that Tiana wants to open up a restaurant with her dad. She’s probably only 5 or 6 years old when she talks about this goal, but we can tell that it’s something that she really wants. The film fast forwards and we see Tiana as an adult coming home from a night shift at one of her jobs. She places her tips inside of a drawer in her room and we soon find out that after all of these years she still wants to start that restaurant. Even though she’s exhausted, she still gets up and goes to work at her second job because she needs all the money that she gather up in order to have enough to buy the property where she wants to open up her restaurant. Looking from the outside in, it seems as though she will never have the amount that she needs to buy the building, but after her best friend Lottie pays her to cook beignets for her party for Prince Naveen of Maldonia she finally has enough to get her restaurant.

While Tiana is at the party she learns that someone outbid her and that unless she comes up with the money in the next few days, she’ll lose out on the property. Upon hearing this news, she becomes devastated. Her dream was right there in front of her and she lost it, not because she didn’t have enough heart, but because she wasn’t wealthy enough. As she’s pondering her bad luck, Prince Naveen, who’s been turned into a frog by the voodoo man, offers to give her the money that she needs if she kisses him so that he can become human again. She agrees, but, unfortunately for her, she ends up turning in to a frog too. Throughout the rest of the movie, the pair goes on a journey together to try and figure out a way to turn back to their human forms. Tiana holds on to her dream of opening up the restaurant throughout her time as a frog, but as she starts to fall for the prince she also realizes that her dream wouldn’t be complete unless he was in it with her.

Tiana never gave up on her dream, and neither should you. She ends up getting both her restaurant and the love her life because she refused to compromise. She didn’t want to settle because she knew that her life wouldn’t be complete unless she had those two things in her life.

I don’t know what your dream(s) are, but whatever they are you should always choose to follow them…

If you want to be a doctor then go for it!

If you want to travel the world one day then do it!

If you want to find the love of your life then find him or her!

If you want to change the world by discovering something new then do that!

It won’t necessarily be easy. Tiana had her restaurant at the tips of her fingers and then it was snatched away from her in the blink of an eye. And then she was turned in to a frog, which complicated her plans exponentially. If she had chosen to let these bumps in the road stop her from continuing on with the pursuit of her goals then she would have never turned human again and been able to get that restaurant that she wanted. If she had just rolled over and given up she would have never gotten her happy ending.

If you think about giving up on your dreams now then you might never get your happy ending. Positive thinker, imagine what your life would be like without accomplishing that goal that you have. If you’re willing to live your life without having it then that’s fine, but if you’re not then you need to make the decision to pursue it with unyielding fervor!