Disney Magical Mindset Podcast

The Story Behind Your Happily Ever After

• Ruben R. Rios • Episode 71

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0:00 | 20:23

What story have you been telling yourself lately?

In this episode of the Disney Magical Mindset Podcast, we explore the power of story and how the stories we repeat in our minds shape the lives we live. Inspired by Walt Disney and his belief that he wanted to be remembered above all as a storyteller, we dive into the mindset shifts that can change your life from the inside out.

From Walt acting out Snow White for his animators late into the night  to the stories Disney characters tell themselves before discovering who they truly are, this episode is all about identity, belief, and rewriting the narrative that’s been holding you back. 

Helping you reimagine what's possible and step into it! 

What Story Are You Telling?

Ruben

Hey Reimagineers, welcome back to another episode of the Disney Magical Mindset Podcast. I'm Ruben, and I'm so glad you're here today. And I want to ask you a question, a super important question as we start this magical journey together. And here's the question, super important. What story have you been telling yourself lately? Mm-hmm. Yeah. What story have you been telling yourself lately? Because whether we realize it or not, all of us, my dear friends, you and me, every single one of us are narrating our lives every day. Every single day, there's a story that you're waking up to. Every single day, there's a story that you're going to bed to. There's a story that you're telling yourself about yourself, about your life, about what's next. And this story is greatly impacting your life. You know, and for many people, the story might sound like I'm too late. I'm not ready. I could never do something like that. This is just who I am. I'm not going to make it. Uh, you don't know my past. Like, you don't know where I've been. Like all these questions and these things that we keep telling ourselves, or like we remind ourselves of things that don't help our happily ever after. But what listen, what if the story you keep repeating is actually the one that's just shaping your life? And that's because that's what that's what's happening. And you know what's interesting? When people think about Walt Disney, my hero, all right, your hero. Uh this this is my inspiration, right? Walt Disney. They often think of Disneyland. In fact, I probably should have asked you when you think of Walt Disney, what do you think of? And you probably would think Disneyland. Or who else do you think of? When you think of Walt Disney, Mickey Mouse, right? Uh, or movies or or magic. But Walt said something fascinating once, and here's what he said Of all the things I've ever done, I'd like to be remembered as a storyteller, not an animator, not a businessman, and not even a creator, the creator of Disneyland, although he was all of those things. A storyteller. A storyteller. And maybe that matters today more than we realize because stories just don't entertain us, right? What do stories do? They shape beliefs, stories shape identity, stories shape what people believe is possible. And the story you tell yourself today, hear me, friends. The story you tell yourself today might actually determine the life you step into tomorrow. That's how powerful story is, and that's how powerful the story you're telling yourself, the story you're believing about yourself is. So are you ready to do this? Cause here we go. Now, if I were to ask you another question about the reason Disney means so much to you, to people, um, I'm I would believe, like I'd be pretty confident to say it's not just the attractions or the characters, although we love them and we have them. You know, Peter Pan is my favorite character, Peter Pan, the movie is is my favorite animated uh Disney animated film, you know, Peter Pan's flight is my favorite, you know, attraction. So we all have ours, and and there's no denying the the impact, the magic, the joy that we feel from these characters and attractions. But I really think that the reason we love Disney and it means so much to us, to people, to you, is because of the storytelling. It's the storytelling. Disney stories make us feel something. Isn't that the power of story? And they remind us what courage looks like, what hope looks like, what redemption looks like, what dreaming looks like. And Walt understood the power of story better than almost anyone. I mean, it's fascinating when you when you look at the example of this amazing storyteller, the examples that we read about and um that people share about Walt Disney and the way that he he could just tell you a story and captivate you and cast vision for a new film, a movie, a park. I mean, listen, why do you think Disneyland was able to be built in one year? I mean, that is a marvel in and of itself, but you better believe, you best believe that part of the reason Walt was able to do this was that he was able to captivate his audience or his people, right? Those who were with him, who believed in him, and maybe even those who didn't, right, at one point. And he was able to tell a story and cast this vision so powerfully that people were like, We gotta, we gotta do this. I mean, we we got to enter into the story that he's inviting us to because it's so good. And the thing uh about Walt Disney is of all there's there's so many, I mean, incredible stories uh around the studio, but there's one thing that that you will see. In fact, when you read his story and his life, there's one thing that people constantly said about him, and it was this he was the greatest storyteller in the room. I mean, you walk into the room with Walt, and you knew that you were sitting with the master storyteller. I mean, this this man was going to captivate you in the narrative of the magic of the stories he was gonna tell. And and it was like everyone knew it when Walt walked into the room, there was a story that was gonna be told. Animator Dick Humer once said, Walt could act stories out so vividly that you could completely see the vision before it even existed. My goodness. That is the kind of storyteller I want to be. I mean, we're talking about the ability to lead people, to tell stories, to get them to believe in something that that's not even there yet. Yes, and so we see, I hope you're seeing all these different connections to Disneyland. It wasn't even there yet, and Walt was able to tell the story. There's a reason why Walt would get on TV before Disneyland was even built, and we would go into the Disneyland report, right? And we would sit there. Well, not we, I wish I could, right? But but there are people who had the amazing opportunity to see Walt come onto their TV screen and he would share the story about Disneyland, about what was coming. And so you know everyone was getting excited about something that they hadn't even seen yet, but because he was such an amazing storyteller and everything that he had done before, people knew when he spoke, when he shared the story, when he talked about what was coming, when he talked about things that weren't even there yet, they're like, oh, it's gonna be great because this is Walt Disney. And a perfect example of this happened during Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. At the time, people thought Walt was out of his mind. There's no way that you are able, Walt, this is what was said, to build or to create a full-length feature animated film. Nobody's gonna watch it, you're not gonna be able to do it, there's no way that's gonna happen. And what happens, you know, like everything else, right? Walt was able to do what everyone told him what he could not do because of the story he was telling himself. He was believing about himself. Now, the question on a lot of people's mind during the the time that Snow White was was um being created and and they were working on it was why risk everything on a full-length animated film during the Great Depression? And Walt risked everything. I mean, he mortgaged his house, sold his car, and borrowed against his life insurance to finish what critics were already calling Disney's Folly. He was betting it all on a color cartoon movie, something that had never been made before, a full-length animated movie, and Walt was betting everything. You I don't know if we understand the severity of this, because if Snow White tanks and it's and it you know bombs at the box office and it's it's over for Walt. I mean, I don't I don't even think we would have Disneyland or the things we love today with Disney and everything that it means to us if this went down the way everyone, or at least the critics, were thinking. But look at the power of story. Here, here's where we're going. You got you gotta catch this. Because up until this point, I'm sure everybody's thinking this. What is Walt doing? The studio already had successful Mickey Mouse shorts, they were making money, they they were working, but Walt saw something bigger. That's what storytellers do, that's what visionaries do. There's always something more. The problem was his animators couldn't fully see it yet. They couldn't fully see what Walt was seeing. Right? So one night, Walt gathers the animators together after dinner and and for hours, there they are with the storyteller with Walt Disney, and he performed the entire story of Snow White himself. It's like if I'm going to, if we're gonna do this, I gotta show my animators, my team, what it looks like, what we're creating. And so he became Snow White, the queen, the huntsman, the dwarves. He acted out the emotions, the fear, the comedy, the heart. Just imagine being in the room where Walt is acting out all these characters that we're gonna see on screen. One of the greatest Disney animated films, the very first one, and according to animators, the animators who were there that night, they were completely captivated. Why? Why do you think they were completely captivated? Because Walt didn't just explain the story, he made them believe it. And that, my friends, is the power of story. So, why? Why does this all matter to us today? What why am I sharing this with you? Because it got me thinking we are all telling ourselves a story, and the question is, what story are you telling yourself about yourself? What story are you believing about yourself? What is your story? Because all of us are living inside stories every single day. And some people are living inside a story of fear, and you you know that some of you know what that's like, and others are inside a story of failure, or maybe others are inside a story where they believe their best days are behind them. Or for some of you, your story is you're repeating the stuff that you did last year and the year before and the things that have happened in the past. And so you're living in that narrative of a story that's in the past, and you're not able to enjoy the present or the future because you're still living back there. And eventually, eventually, if repeated long enough, the story starts forming and shaping your identity. And you start believing that story, and you start thinking that that's who you are. I'm just that anxious person, or I'm not leadership material, or I'm never gonna change, or I'm not creative, or I'm not like that person that I look at or that I watch or that I follow, you know. Um, or I'm always gonna mess things up, or I'm just gonna be like my dad or my mom. You know, like these things that we just keep telling ourselves. And the scary part is most people don't even realize they're repeating these stories. Woohoo, my goodness. But your mind is always listening. And that's why I believe so much in this magical mindset, right? Because your mind is listening and eventually your life begins moving in the direction of the story you believe most. And the story that you believe most is gonna shape what your happily ever after looks like, or if it's a happily ever after, it all comes down to the story that you're believing and telling yourself. Because if you constantly tell yourself that you're stuck, guess what? You're gonna stop trying. If you if you're telling yourself over and over again, I'm unworthy, or um, I'm I'm no good, then you're just gonna shrink back from opportunities because you're gonna be scared to go after the new things because you keep believing that you're that you're not worthy to do this, right? That you're not good enough to do it. Or maybe you're constantly telling yourself that your dream is impossible. And how often have we heard that? Like, how often have we believed that, that we that it's not possible? And because you believe that, guess what happens? You don't even begin. And maybe for many of us, that's why the Disney stories they resonate so deeply within us, because so many of them are really stories about us or about what we hope for. Like we we want to become that because we want to believe that we can achieve this, that we want to believe that our happiest days are ahead of us, that we want to believe that we can create our very own happiest place on earth. Isn't that right? Look at some of the stories that we love. Think of some of the characters. Uh we we just um celebrated, you know, Star Wars Day, May the 4th. I talked about that last week. I mean, Luke Skywalker feared becoming his father. He feared becoming Darth Vader. Think about Woody. You know, in the in this Toy Story movie, he he he thought he was going to be replaced by Buzz Lightyear, right? Rapunzel believed that safety meant staying trapped in the tower. And of course, you know, you think of Simba. I mean, that's one of the best examples I feel about this belief that somehow he had become the villain of his story. And so he kept believing that. And so he ran and he and he and he left and he never um, you know, he was believing that he was the the one that was responsible for his father's death, and so he kept running and running and running, and it's only until he came back and he believed a different story about himself. That's when everything changed, right? That's when everything changed, when the characters that we love stop believing the false story. That's when everything changes. So here's what I want you to do today. Instead of asking, can I do this? A better question that I want you to ask, I want you to replace that question, can I do this with who do I need to become to do this? Who do I need to become to do this? Because you can't reach your next level with the story you're telling yourself. You know, the story that I'm not gonna change, or I'm not creative, or I'm not like my friend, or it's not gonna get better. I'm always messing things up. You know, that story that we we keep believing and and we keep repeating. You know, that growth requires transformation. And that transformation usually begins with changing the story you believe about yourself. And I'm not talking about fake positivity or pretending like life is perfect and and there's never going to be any issues or or challenges or hardships. We we know already, right? But choosing to stop defining yourself only by fear or failure or your past or the opinions of other people or the things that have happened in your life or the things that um that you've experienced, you know, like or or the the things that that you believe that you're gonna experience, right? Walt could have listened to every person who doubted him. I mean, people thought Disneyland would fail. People thought Snow White was ridiculous, people thought animation couldn't do what Walt envisioned, but Walt kept seeing possibility where others saw limits. That's powerful because the story you believe shapes what you build. Some people see dirt and others see a castle. All right, Walt. Some people see impossible and others see not yet, because the story you believe shapes what you build. You know, I think this is why Disneyland feels so emotional for people sometimes. There's something that happens to many of us or all of us who love Disneyland or Disney Park, Walt Disney World, like that feeling that you get when you step into the story. When you step into Disneyland, you're stepping into a story. Don't you know Walt Disney knew exactly what he was doing when you when he wanted you to feel when you walked in there that you were now part of the story, a part of part of the happily ever after, part of this happiest place on earth, like this could be yours? You know, for a moment? Isn't that what happens? It's like it reconnects us to belief, belief that life can still be magical, that dreams actually matter, that joy still exists, that we haven't missed out on our moment yet, like that it's still there, that the best is is still out there, it's still to come. And and isn't that why we get emotional at times seeing the castle or watching the parade or seeing the fireworks and listening to the music and and walking down Main Street because deep down it reconnects us to the part of ourselves that still wants to believe. Isn't that right? Like it's in there, and it's you that's never left, man. That's that's never gone away. It's always been there. It's just that what what happens is we go through things and life and all the stories that we we we capture throughout the years and we tell ourselves, and we forget, right? And we forget. So maybe today, as as we as we come to an end, you just gotta remember you're not trapped in the story you've been telling yourself. A new chapter can begin. You're not disqualified because of your past, you're not finished because life got hard, you're not too late. Your story, and here's the power, is still being written. It's still being written, and and that's the real magic that you have to remember today. It was never just the dream itself. The magic is who you become while bringing it to life. That's the power of the journey. It's not just the castle, but it's everything that you're believing about yourself because in order to get to the castle, a lot of it's gonna depend on the story you tell yourself today. So this week, Reimagineers. I want you to pay attention to the story you're telling yourself. Okay, because your mind is always listening. It's time to stop repeating the story that's been keeping you back or keeping you small and start stepping into the story you were actually meant to live. I'm cheering for you, I'm rooting for you, and I'm here to help you silence the villain in your mind so you can become the hero of your story. Thank you so much, it means the world that you uh hung out with me uh on this week uh of the Disney Magical Mindset podcast. It I really, really appreciate you being here. Have the best day ever. Remember, remember always that you are the magic because the magic is in you.