Over the summer, I took my little sister out for sister's fun-day and we drove here, there, and everywhere while we belted out the lyrics to the Disney Princess album in the car. We sang so many songs, not really focusing on the messages of the songs in particular. I would not realize the impact one of the songs on the CD would have on me later.

The next Monday, I was heading to work when I heard "Just Around the River Bend" from the movie Pocahontas. I listened to the lyrics intently and actually learned from it. Several of the lines in the song struck me.

To start off, "What I love most about rivers is, you can't step in the same river twice. The water is always changing always flowing." These lyrics hit me, and I realized that it is true. Reflecting this onto real life, the "water" is always changing; our circumstances never stop "flowing."

Following those lyrics comes, "people I guess can't live like that, we all must pay a price. To be safe, we lose our chance of ever knowing what's around the river bend." In today's society, people really do focus on what is the safe way out. They focus on the easy approach instead of challenging themselves to push harder. I don't want to live in fear of failing. There will sometimes be a price to pay for putting yourself out there. It doesn't matter if you are pushing further in the work place, relationships, school, etc. there will always be something you are risking. The outcome is typically positive, but it can be scary to try at first.

One of the last few lines that really made an impact on me was, "should I take the smoothest course, steady as the beating drum? Or do you still wait for me dream giver, just around the river bend?" I feel like this is a pretty important statement to think about in any giver situation. Are we settling? What I need to do in my life is travel down the river, waiting to see what is around the river bend. I want the most out of life. I want to experience life to the fullest. I want to keep searching "around the river bend" so to speak and keep learning. I never want to settle for where I am.

I am not saying that I base all me decisions off of this song, it has just encouraged me to reflect some of its values onto my own life. After re-evaluating some situations, I ended up pushing past the trouble and succeeding at what I was going for. A situation that comes to mind would be my current internship. I thought I was at a dead end, but I felt encouraged to keep pushing for it. I ended up getting the internship, having it work out, and I loving it. I am starting to learn new things, and I know this will make a huge impact on my future in the business world.