I’ve been on such a movie kick lately seeing quite a number of films at the theater. For me it’s one of the things that summer’s all about anyway. So two nights ago I went to see “Turbo” at the local cinema given that I’m a big animation fan. What’s funny is how this film, like several other films I’ve seen recently, was so closely connected to some of my own life’s experiences.
The film’s plot is actually rather simple. It’s about a snail who has a big dream to go as fast as an Indy race car. All the other snails that live around him laugh at his absurdity and just go on with their daily lives doing what they always do, which is to harvest and eat tomatoes. Due to a freak accident that happens on a venture away from home one night though, the snail is doused in a bath of nitrous oxide when it’s sucked into the engine of a car that’s street racing. When the snail is thrown from that engine, it’s not to long after that he realizes he’s able to travel at speeds upwards of 200 mph and gives himself the nickname Turbo. The rest of the movie is focused on him trying to achieve his dream of being an Indy race car driver when every other snail, including his own brother, still thinks he’s insane and does their best to convince him otherwise.
What I relate most to this plot is the path I’ve been taking these past few years of my life to heal. That path began a few years ago when I made the decision to fully walk away from an addictive lifestyle and start spending most of my time in solitude to try to grow closer to God and to myself. In doing so, my physical body deteriorated and most of my days became filled with vast amounts of mental and emotional anguish. For awhile, I tried to take medications to deal with all the pain and I followed all the doctor’s advice who I saw, none of which helped me in the least bit. Then came the day where I walked away from all those pills and appointments and accepted the only way I was going to heal was to live my life as healthy and spiritual as a human could and that God would help me complete the rest. Like Turbo, I have often thought way bigger than what everyone else around me thinks. Many have thought I’m crazy and that God isn’t going to ever heal me. People have tried to convince me all the time that I should go back on medications or that I have some disease which just hasn’t been discovered yet by the doctors I once visited. Others have told me to just accept I’m always going to be dealing with the pain and make the best of it. But I continue to believe differently than all of them.
Turbo never gave up on his dream and neither will I. He eventually experienced the fruits of his hard work and I know I will too. I refuse to believe that what I’m feeling right now is the best it’s ever going to get for me. So each day now I do my best to trust inherently in God that I will be delivered out of this suffering and restored to a healthy state of mind, body, and soul by remaining patient and continuing to do the hard work I do each day to heal. I leave the rest in God’s hands and truly believe that through all of this, God will eventually turbo charge me too…
Peace, love, light, and joy,
Andrew Arthur Dawson