Finding Dory

I think we can all agree that Pixar has released a lot of really good movies. Finding Nemo falls into this category and certainly has a number of famous clips. I watched it a long time ago as a kid and remember loving the movie. While I haven’t watched the movie start to finish in a long while (and huge disclaimer: I know I need to and want to watch the whole movie start-to-finish again), I recently started re-discovering some of the funniest clips from the movie and started watching them again.

As anyone who has watched Finding Nemo knows, Dory is one of the movie’s main characters and is very notable as a result. For those who haven’t watched it, Dory is this lovable blue fish who’s super optimistic, upbeat, and also rather air-headed at times. From speaking whale to trying to befriend a little jellyfish, Dory’s one of those characters that serves as the optimistic and “look on the bright side” foil to the constantly pessimistic Marlin. In other words, Dory is quite the entertaining character.

One of Dory’s most famous moments in the film is the point where she in Marlin have a diving mask which helps in the quest to find Nemo. Dory then drops the mask and Marlin gets down and depressed feeling like he lost his chance to find his son. She then approaches the downtrodden Marlin and then the following exchange occurs:

“Hey Mr. Grumpy Gills…when life gets you down, you know what you gotta do?” (Marlin: “I don’t wanna know what you gotta do.”)

“Just keep swimming. Just keep swimming. Just keep swimming, swimming, swimming. What do we do? We swim….swim” (Marlin: “Dory, no singing.”)

A couple of months ago, I re-discovered this clip and started listening to it one Friday at work. Having consumed a Grande Starbucks Coffee that morning, I was feeling the caffeine rush and started listening to the clip over and over again. What can I say? It’s a great clip! During that morning, I came up with this idea to greet some of my friends and send them a nice little message based off Dory’s “just keep swimming” mantra. I spent a good chunk of that day messaging some of my friends trying to encourage them to “just keep swimming” if life was getting them down. At the time, I didn’t think it would be that much aside from a typical Joe somewhat funny well-wish. But based on how people responded, it seems like it was more than that.

A lot of them of course loved the Finding Nemo reference. Moreso than that, I found that a number of my friends had told me that my encouragement to “just keep swimming” came at the absolute right time. Some happily and affirmatively told me that they were swimming, which made me happy. Some of them told me they were having a rough day and really needed that motivation. One had shared a story with me about how seeing “just keep swimming” was absolutely fitting in so many ways. Something tells me that encouraging people to just keep swimming really did a lot for so many people.

When I thought about this more, I started to realize how much I identify with Dory’s character. I felt like this experience was like me finding my “inner Dory”, being eternally optimistic and always looking on the bright side, especially for other people who are maybe having a rough go of it. (I certainly identified with being on the receiving end of Marlin’s “Dory, no singing” response, seeing that I have had many moments where I have started cheerfully singing at seemingly inopportune times.) Being the type of person who could provide that little spark for others and being that reminder to just keep swimming no matter what life throws is something I take pride in. I admit, sometimes I feel like I don’t really grasp how much of an impact my little encouragement can have for other people. I know when people take the time out of their day to encourage me, to say they’re looking forward to seeing me, or something like that, it really does give me a boost to keep swimming, especially when life gets me down. But it certainly feels super positive to know that something as small as happily encouraging someone to “just keep swimming” can give a little laugh and make someone’s day. I feel like, in a way, the character of Dory came alive inside of me.

There have certainly been times where I could really use (or could really have used) Dory’s advice to just keep swimming when life got me down. For example, the month of March for me was, to put it lightly, really bad. Multiple times during the month, I absolutely did not want to do anything and lacked the motivation to be my usual happy-go-lucky, reach out self. I had little desire to approach people with anything and more often than not, found myself more cranky and irritable and not wanting to talk to anyone, preferring to stay on the couch and just almost do nothing. I was in a deep sea of negative emotions and often ended up being really down on myself and filled with a lot of internal frustration. When the calendar turned to April, I was perfectly content to let the month of March burn and throw it in a fire. In hindsight, I was drowning and life was really getting me down. I guess looking back and seeing that I’m in a better place, I did keep swimming…somehow. Maybe even when we feel like we’re drowning, we’re swimming anyway even if we don’t think about it. I don’t know where I would go with that last thought but I’ll toss it out at least.

Today sitting at my work desk, I started thinking. Something that has been an ongoing struggle this entire year has been feeling like I haven’t had as much of an impact on people, especially with my SCU friends that are still there, since I graduated. It’s been more difficult to see those tangible signs that I’m making people’s days and having an impact on their lives. I’m not physically present for many of my friends anymore to share that hug and share that smile that they’ll see and to see their reactions. When I started to become more present with those struggles, I started coming back to this experience of encouraging people to “just keep swimming”. I started remembering how much others got lifted up by having someone tell them to “just keep swimming” when life got them down. And in that little, Finding Nemo-inspired message, I was able to have that impact for others. The subtlety makes the impact harder for me to notice, but in some respects, at least I can notice it. It’s a good reminder for me to realize that even if I may not have the same type of impact I used to when I was physically around lots of my friends as a Santa Clara student, that I still can have that positive impact for those I care about.

Remember…when life gets you down, you know what you gotta do?

Just keep swimming. Just keep swimming. Just keep swimming…swimming…swimming :)