Yesterday the Girl Scouts had an event to see Inside Out 2. I loved the original and figured this was a good timing since Aaron was working some OT. However, I had completely forgotten about our prepaid tickets until my phone notified me it was time to leave. Luckily we only live 5 minutes away…especially so because McKenna was still sleeping…at 10:40am. 🙈

We made it to the theater just as the previews were finishing and the movie was beginning. Settled in with popcorn, we looked at the menu to order some lunch.

How much pizza is too much pizza? Asking for a friend whose kids may have had pizza about a million days in a row. 

Let me tell you when I say this movie got me in the feels, I am not exaggerating even a little bit. At one point I was full on ugly crying. The general plot is that Riley has woken up one morning in full blown puberty—including all the emotions associated with this big change. Joy, Anger, Fear, Disgust, and Sadness try to keep things the same, but Anxiety, Envy, Embarrassment, Ennui (Boredom), and sporadic guest appearances by Nostalgia keep pushing their way into Riley’s ever crowded mind.

Anxiety brings real main character energy by taking over as the emotional charge—booting Joy from her long term position as number one. At first Anxiety doesn’t seem so bad. They’re kind of looking out for Riley by having her work hard, manage her time, boldly approaching other hockey players lest she get left behind. But as you can imagine, it doesn’t take long for Anxiety to start anxietying—literally pushing the Joy from Riley’s mind.

There’s a scene I won’t spoil for you. But it is such an accurate depiction of anxiety that I had a bit of a mini breakdown. I felt every gasp for air, body rock, and negative thought. And when it was all resolved—it is a Disney movie, after all—I was as spent as if I had lived the experience myself.

Watch the video below if you want to
A.) cry the ugly cry. 
B.) ruin an amazingly depicted scene before seeing the whole movie. 
C.) see cartoon characters describe something I’ve never been able to put into words.  
D.) all of the above. 

When we got home, I asked the kids about the movie and we had some really great conversations about all the emotions. George didn’t think he had so many feelings until we went through them and identified times he felt each. McKenna asked about anxiety and it sparked a great talk about what it is, how to recognize it, and how to overcome that little asshole who lives inside your head. We chatted about how all emotions are valid and there’s room for each of them inside us. We talked about how the exact same experience may elicit a totally different emotion in different people.

I talked about how my own anxiety will sometimes cause me to take a break to…well…breakdown. And that’s totally OK because I have identified what I need in those moments and allowed myself to feel the feelings rather than push them down.

Again, like a few weeks ago, it’s these unexpected moments that authentically lead to organic conversations. I could never have engineered a way for me to have such a thoughtful…and thought provoking chat…with 9, 6 and 3 year olds. And yet somehow, it just happened. I know there are some mixed reviews about this movie but I thought it was wonderful.