A little over a year ago the world was blessed with a movie called Moana, and Disney fans around the world rejoiced. It was supposed to be the next big thing since Frozen, and if you’ve watched then you know how true that is. You laughed, cried, and sang along as you embarked on a journey with our young heroine. There were many lessons to be learned during this film. Friendship, family, and staying true to yourself were constant themes throughout, but one of the ones that stood out the most was about the importance of not letting your mistakes define you.

— Spoilers Ahead —

Years and years ago, Maui, a demigod, stole a heart from a goddess named Te Fiti, and when he did this it brought death and destruction to all of the islands around her. For years, the people of Montonui were unaffected by this plague, but by the time Moana became of age, their island started to die as well. Moana was always drawn to the ocean, but she could never follow her heart’s desire because her father forbade her and his people from going out past the reef because he thought that it was a dangerous place. Just when it’s starting to look like Moana will never be able to go out into the ocean like she wants to, her grandmother reveals to her that she was destined to restore the island back to health. The ocean chose the young girl to return Te Fiti’s heart. The rest of the movie is about her journeying to find the goddess. Along the way she enlists Maui’s help. He made the mistake of taking the goddess’ heart in the first place, but he still came along on the journey. He may have started out doing it against his will, but by the time that they reach the place where Te Fiti is supposed to be he realizes that he is wrong and that it is still possible for him to be the hero that he wants to be.

When they get there however, they are ambushed by Te Ka, a fire monster. But just as it starts to seem like all hope is lost Moana figures out that Te Ka is what Te Fiti turned into when her heart was stolen from her. So in typical Disney musical form, Moana sings a song while she moves towards Te Ka to return her heart. In her song, she sings the following line,

“They have stolen the heart from inside you

but this does not define you

This is not who you are

You know who you are.”

And these lines help to drill home the message of not allowing your mistakes to define you. After she finishes singing, she gives Te Ka the heart and she transforms back into the goddess. Life is once again restored to the islands and everybody lives happily ever after.

— Spoilers Over —

The message from these lyrics is so important. We all make mistakes, but we can’t allow them to control our lives. The things that you’ve done in the past are just one aspect of you, and you shouldn’t allow them to have enough power over you so that you end up ruining your life because of them…

The little slipups don’t tend to stay with you. For example, if you tell a white lie to get out of going to dinner with friends and they find out about it, that’s not really going to affect you. It’s the big ones that can end up taking a lot out of you. For instance, if you’re lying about hooking up with your best friend’s significant other then that is going to do way more damage than the lie that you told to get out of dinner. But even though these big ones have the power to really send you in a downward spiral, you can’t allow that happen.

Positive thinker, you can bounce back from your mistakes. Yes, you’ve messed up before. You can’t escape that fact, none of us can, but it’s done now and dwelling on them will only end up making things worse for you. Don’t do that to yourself. Instead, choose to learn from your mistakes because when you pick that option you end up a better person because of it!