Hubby and I rewatched Wonder Woman this last weekend. I loved it just as much the second time around. It’s going to be take a lot to knock it out of 1st place for me when it comes to the comic book movies. I’d have to it’s easily in the my all time top ten favorite movies, period.

The one scene that really got to me the first time, hit me just as hard the second viewing. It has had be fighting back tears each time.

If you haven’t seen the movie and don’t want spoilers, then you should stop reading now. And you should go watch the movies, because seriously it’s a great movie.

Spoilers: You’ve been warned.

The scene I’m talking about is No Man’s Land. Diana, Steve, and the others arrive at the place designated No Man’s Land. On the way there she sees people in trouble and wants to help but Steve convinces her to keep moving that there’s nothing she can do for them and that where they’re going is what is really important. And so she does nothing. But when they get to No Man’s Land and she’s once more confronted with the realities of war and innocence asking for her help, she can no longer stand by and do nothing.

She’s told it’s impossible to cross No Man’s Land, that it’s guaranteed death or even try.  But Diana believes in herself and her skills. So, instead of listening to them, she does what she knows in her heart is right.

And she steps onto that battlefield.

Alone.

She has no way of knowing what will happen but she believes she will accomplish what she sets out to do and then she does exactly that. Diana started that journey alone because no one else believed she could do it, but she did not finish it that way. By the end Diana had her friends and an entire army behind her.

There is so much about that single scene that speaks to me, inspires me. I think we could all benefit from being more like Diana Prince. So much of our lives we’re told what we can’t do.  So then all too often we end up believe them. We give up our dreams. We sacrifice our true selves. All so we can fit into the box society has decided we should be in, rather than believing in ourselves enough to step out onto that field alone.

If I had a dollar for every time I’ve had someone tell me that writing isn’t a real job. In high school I was writing a book, and I’m sure it wasn’t very good because I was sixteen and didn’t know a lot about the craft of writing yet, but I was excited about it and I shared it with a teacher whom I respected. He read through it and gave it back to me the next day. After class I asked him what he thought. I told him that I wanted to be a writer. He told me that I should focus on things I was good at and leave the writing to professionals because I did not have what it took to make it as a writer. It was fifteen years before I wrote anything else. Because I let his words kill my dream. Now, I may never succeed as a writer. I may never make enough to be able to support my family. But one thing I’ve learned throughout this journey is that it doesn’t matter. Writing brings me joy and I’m fortunate enough to live in a time where I can publish my work and share it with others with no more than the click of a button. This is my second attempt at this career. I was published for five years with a publisher and then I decided to take time off for personal reasons. I’d been going back and forth about whether or not to publish again, when something happened in my life that made me realize life is too short for regrets. So I blew the dust off of my keyboard, created a new pen name, and I decided to write the books I want to read. It’s a different genre than I wrote in before but these stories are the ones that have been with me for years and years. They’re the ones that didn’t fit with my previous pen name. The ones that I worried might not fit neatly into a specific genre. They’re the ones I wasn’t confident enough in myself and my skills to write.

So this is me, stepping out onto the battle field alone. It’s one small step. But I’m hoping it will make a big difference in the rest of my life. That the next time I’m told I can’t do something I will remember Diana Prince defiantly and confidently stepping out into No Man’s Land, determined to make the impossible possible. And I hope I can be as brave, as courageous, as confident as she was.

And more than that, I wish it for all of you as well. Believe in yourselves. Show the world what can happen when we stop listening to the ones who tell us what we can’t do and start showing them what we can.