In case you’re wondering, this post came about from watching this movie at 2 AM while unable to sleep over the weekend.
Jurassic Park is a movie I could watch a hundred times and never get tired of. Watching it with the kids, the focus is on the different dinosaurs and the awe and beauty of these creatures. Watching without the kids, you realize just how many moral questions and issues the movie raises. The bottom line after 5 movies in this franchise is that bringing dinosaurs back to life is a really bad idea. Regardless of that obvious point, the movies are still entertaining and interesting.
It got me thinking that the grass is not always greener on the other side. We think or I should say I think, as I know I’m guilty of this, that others have it better and appearances can be deceiving.
The island where Jurassic Park was located was beautiful. Initially the dinosaurs were spectacular to see. Then things quickly changed and things shifted from an island visit to a survival test. Things were not as wonderful and safe as they appeared.
You could be Dennis Nedry. One minute you are thinking you are headed for a big payout, the next thing you know you’re driving down a small cliff and spit on and attacked by a dilophosaurus.
You could be Ian Malcolm. One minute you’re looking at beautiful creatures and land and the next you’re standing next to one big pile of shit.
This is life. It’s a balance of beauty and shit, scary and good. That’s what makes it interesting but also makes it so hard. Things aren’t predictable and we can’t control a lot.
We can choose to make smart decisions. Bringing dinosaurs back to life is not smart. Shining a flashlight at a T-Rex is not smart.
Eating healthy, staying active, engaging socially are all things we can do that are good decisions to help our heath. I can’t control that I have cancer but I can control how I respond to it and try to continue to make heathy and smart choices.
I can focus on the positive. I am responding well to treatment, have a great medical team working together, have wonderful friends and family that have been so supportive and 5 beautiful kids to keeping me smiling and laughing all day as well as a strong, caring husband. They have all helped me so much during this difficult time.
One of the memorable lines in Jurassic Park from Ian Malcom is “your scientists were so preoccupied with if they could they didn’t think if they should.”
There’s plenty of things we shouldn’t do that we will do anyway. We may speed, lie about things, not eat healthy, smoke because we can. But we really should ask if we should be doing these things and stop these behaviors.
Then there was Malcom’s discussion of the chaos theory. The theory essentially is that slight variations in a complex system can lead to large differences over a period of time.
Being in the health and fitness field, I can’t help but think about how this applies to diet and exercise. We want immediate change and get frustrated when that may take some time. But if you stick with it and make small changes such as eating less sugar, consuming more fruits and vegetables, adding weights to our fitness routine, varying the type of workouts we do, than these small changes can lead to big changes and differences.
The same is true in sports. A subtle adjustment to a swing in baseball or golf can make a huge difference in how we hit the ball. Running form like increasing foot turnover and driving the arms forward as we run can make a big difference and help reduce wasted energy and increase our speed.
I’ve noticed how a small change in my outlook can affect my energy levels. If I look at all I have left for this cancer and the future surgeries and treatment I just overwhelm myself and am exhausted. If I can stay focused on the day by day and stay positive I feel so much better and have more energy. Small changes do make a difference.
The final Ian Malcom quote I’ll reference is “life finds a way.” It does. No matter how many challenges and obstacles we face, we find a way. We find ways to survive no matter how hard it is. And that’s exactly what I am trying to do.
Life is full of beauty and wonderful things. It’s also full of a lot of ugly and destructive things. We saw this all in Jurassic Park. But that’s also what makes life so fun and interesting and keeps us on our toes.
So ladies and gentlemen, hold on to your butts. Life is one, crazy ride.
