Yesterday I saw Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again for the second time. I usually despise seeing movies in the theater, especially when I’m back home in New York City. Nothing can justify paying $17 for a movie ticket.
That being said, I gladly went to see Mamma Mia 2 for a second time. When I first saw the movie, it ignited something inside of me that I had a very hard time explaining. Yes, I loved the original movie, but I wasn’t a huge fanatic. I simply loved the music and the feel-good sensations I had once I finished watching it. I honestly hadn’t seen the movie in years, but then one day something inside me shouted: “You NEED to see Mamma Mia 2”. So I listened, and I’m so glad I did.
Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again was just as fun as the first one, but there was something else to it. I didn’t just leave the theater with various ABBA songs stuck in my head, I also left there wondering about my life. Donna Sheridan is like me, a recent college graduate getting ready to embark on a trip to explore the world. She knows there’s more to the world than being stuck in what everyone expects of you, and so she goes and does what she wants to do.
Not everyone is fortunate enough to be a Donna Sheridan. Even though I’m only 9 days away from moving to another country, I’m still leaving to work there and not just travel for fun. Even that, being able to save enough to live and work abroad, is something some people can’t do. I don’t mean to discredit that fact, but I do mean to say that just because we’re not all able to travel and live like Donna doesn’t mean we can’t be inspired by her. This movie inspired me to travel, but it also inspired me to be open to new possibilities and more importantly, to be open to doing what makes me truly feel alive.
Young Donna Sheridan taught me that there’s a whole world out there, and I’m the only one stopping myself from making memories. Her story of travel and love is something we can all only dream of, but that doesn’t mean we can’t have our own adventure of living life the way we want to right now. I shouldn’t be tied down by the expectations of my family to get a high-paying job when all I want is to do something I actually enjoy. There might not be any immediate monetary value to picking up that random hobby you’ve always dreamed about, but there’s so much emotional value to doing something that makes you happy. Living like Donna means being honest with yourself, and with others, about what you want and who you want to be. There’s no greater message for my millennial generation than that.
So I challenge anyone reading this blog post to go see Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again, and then to start taking the small steps to make yourself truly happy. I’m unable to travel to as many countries as I would like to, let alone live my own Greecian adventure, but I am able to travel to that new town or try a new food item I never knew existed. I refuse to let debt or fear of failure rob me of living. Donna wouldn’t want you to either.
What's Next: The Travel Diaries 