Dreams of Happily Ever After

"The greatest moments in life are not concerned with selfish achievements, but rather with the things we do for the people we love and esteem, and whose respect we need." -Walt Disney

Our lives are made up of dreams: dreams of peace, dreams of hope, passion, success, and longing for the future. We let the winds of these dreams guide us, often becoming so focused upon the ultimate destination that we forget to truly feel the calming breeze and take a look around us along the way.

Before my Disney College Program, I measured my own success based upon what others would think or say of what I had done. Now I’m not saying that these short-term goals were not important, however, I am saying that my validation of what I had done came from the wrong sources. I shouldn’t work toward a dream worrying about what others will think or say of what I would accomplish. I should work toward a dream knowing that I put my whole heart into creating something that I think is beautiful. Shouldn’t this knowledge be enough to make me perfectly content?

For nearly the first half of my DCP, I pushed myself above and beyond, making myself sick from working so hard. Why was I trying so hard? I wanted people to like me. I wanted my fellow Cast Members to notice and praise the work that I was doing. I wanted to create a good reputation for myself and hopefully secure a future with the Walt Disney Company. Did you notice what these thoughts have in common?

ME.

My dream was to be the best Character Attendant at Walt Disney World, but I wasn’t doing it for the Guests; I was doing it for me. The Lord is full of surprises, and he always knows just what to do. After humbling me (more on this in a later post), he guided me to a reevaluated dream:

To create magic for Guests.

What I was doing before was not magic—it was selfish. Yes, I wanted the Guests to be happy and have a wonderful vacation, but that wasn’t going to create significance. It wasn’t going to last a lifetime. Mickey taught me so much about giving a personal interaction to each Guest, not simply repeating the same stories and activities. He showed me how to let the Guests guide the interaction. True, sometimes they are quiet or don’t speak English, so you might have to have some similarities in order to communicate, but Guests are always going to respond differently. We each have different desires and insecurities.

The moment I made this change in my attending—when I started focusing on the Guest’s wishes and not on whether or not they’d think I am a good Attendant—that was when I started receiving the praise that I’d been looking for all along. Funny how that works. But regardless of whether or not I’d receive praise for it, I felt much happier when I worked for the Guests’ needs and desires above my own. I felt completely satisfied in just knowing that I made someone smile rather than worrying about whether or not I made his or her day. Once I made this change, I felt truly happy to go to work each day. The repetition of duties didn’t bother me anymore.

So thus my dream became not a dream of my own "Happily Ever After," but of the Guests’.