Why “Frozen” Speaks To Me As An Entrepreneur

I’ve been thinking a lot about the Disney movie “Frozen” lately. It’s very loosely adapted from Hans Christian Andersen’s: The Snow Queen.

I went with my family to see it a few weeks ago at the theater. My kids aren’t kids anymore. My daughter is 17, graduating high school in May and heading to college. My son is 21 and currently in college. They are both smarter than me… maybe not as street smart, but they amaze me with what they know.

They also keep me in touch with what is happening with this new generation.

And Nancy and I are going to be empty nesters soon. I don’t think I’m ready for it.

I asked Katie what she thought the movie was about in the car tonight while I was driving her home from her dance class and she said it means something different to everyone who listens to it.

After we got out of the movie that night, I listened to them talk – rave may be a better word – about the movie and how it stood every Disney movie on it’s head.

I don’t know why I get a lump in my throat every time I hear that song (Let It Go” – it won the Academy Award this year) – and when I watch the youtube video, I have to sit for a minute afterward and push down the flood of emotion that it brings to me. I know, sounds sappy, right?

It speaks to me with so many voices.

And I’m getting to the part where it speaks to the entreprenuer in me in a minute, so bear with me.

I’ve been looking at the lyrics and there isn’t one line that tells the story, it’s too complex and covers so many things.

It talks about growth mostly…

Here is a part that speaks to me as a entrepreneur.

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It’s funny how some distance,
makes everything seem small.
And the fears that once controlled me, can’t get to me at all
It’s time to see what I can do,
to test the limits and break through.
No right, no wrong, no rules for me.
I’m free!

*******

“I’m free” has been my mantra since I was in High School and it has allowed me to do what I chose to do, no matter what others said. All that mattered was that I knew I was on the right path – my path.

And then there’s the verse that speaks to coming out to the world as who you are…. your authentic self, not who others expect you to be.

It’s about growing up, passing a threshold – accepting yourself for who you are and finding the glory in that knowledge.

*******

A kingdom of isolation and it looks like I’m the queen.
The wind is howling like this swirling storm inside.
Couldn’t keep it in, Heaven knows I tried.
Don’t let them in, don’t let them see.
Be the good girl you always have to be.
Conceal, don’t feel, don’t let them know.
Well, now they know!

*******

And then girl power for my daughter – and for me, strength of will, resolution

********

Here I’ll stand, and here I’ll stay.
Let the storm rage on.

The cold never bothered me anyway…

********

There is more to this song and this story than meets the ear.

Fierceness, defiance, self acceptance, overcoming adversity, overcoming the expectations of those who think they know how to live your life better than you do. Those who would judge you and make light of your dreams as nothing more than nonsense.

And the movie goes on like so many Disney movies until toward the end – there’s a shift that we’ve never seen before. And this is a spoiler if you haven’t seen the film, so stop reading if you plan to…

The boyfriend doesn’t come along and save the day.

The true love that wins out comes from the little sister. It puts the genre on it’s head and – well, you’ve got to see it to feel it.

But here is what I’m getting at…

I’ve talked to so many of you over the years. I know what you are going through and I know your pain and your dreams – you’ve shared them with me.

I can list them by the hundred – both fulfilled and unfulfilled, but they boil down to wanting to live the life you were meant to live. To building up the courage and wisdom to be able to have and live your life on your terms as the person YOU are, not who you have been told you should be… and not as someone else tells you you are.

So, I’ll leave you with the last lines of the song and a link to the video:

Let it go, let it go.
And I’ll rise like the break of dawn.
Let it go, let it go
That perfect girl is gone
Here I stand, in the light of day.

Let the storm rage on!
The cold never bothered me anyway…

Watch the video of the song and tell me if it speaks to you as much as it does to me: