That’s Going in the Quote Book: #8

The newest in an ongoing series of Quotes I’ve collected. To see previous posts in the series, click here.

The dreams of youth are the regrets of maturity.

Legend

So I guess I saw this movie once. I think it’s safe to say that, from a movie-watching perspective at least, it had no impact, because I don’t remember a single thing about it.

It did, however, give me one of my favourite quotes. It’s in this scene, which I came across while trying to jog my memory about something, anything, from when I saw this movie.

Watching it did have an interesting effect, though. It made me look at this line from a different perspective than I normally do, and I suspect it’s actually the perspective that landed the quote in my book in the first place.

See, I have a bad habit of talking myself out of doing things. There’ll be a show I want to see, or a place I want to go, or an experience I want to have, but when it comes down to it, I can always find a reason not to follow through. Whether it’s because I don’t have anyone to go with, I’m tired, or I’d have to leave the house and it’s cold out there and there might be wolves, I can convince myself to not bother with minimal effort.

So when I look in my book and see this quote, it’s a reminder to me to not do that. Go by myself, have a nap, wear long underwear and accept that there are no wolves in my neighbourhood. Whatever it takes, just fucking do it. Don’t let those dreams become regrets. (There’s a reason why “Live every day. Die once,” is the tag line for this blog.)

But when I watched this clip, I saw the setup for this quote. The character IMDb tells me is called Lili says to Darkness, (buddy with the face in the video thumbnail), “You’ve stolen my dreams away.”

And that was a bit of a punch in the gut, as it took me back to the time in my life when this quote got added to my book. It was shortly after I’d made the decision to stop living my life for everyone else, and start living it for me. I’d spent over thirty years worrying about everyone else’s expectations and trying to cram myself into that mould. What I wore, what I ate, what I read, what music I listened to, where I went to school, what I took there, where I worked – all this and more was dictated by what the people around me thought I should do. My own interests and needs were immaterial, and who I am suffered as a result.

Looking back on a movie I have no memory of, I think that’s the real reason this quote made it into the book. At the time, it wasn’t meant to remind me to do the things I want to do – although that’s certainly a good takeaway – but to remind me that the choices I make need to be for me and not for others. Because if you let the opinions and expectations of others overrule your own, it’s inevitably going to lead to regret.

I like the fact that this quote’s meaning has changed since I first wrote it down. It makes me think I’m on the right track.