7 Things Frozen 2 Taught Me About Mental Health
Although Pixar has explored the darker parts of life, Disney preaches happily-ever-afters, how good triumphs over evil, and if you kiss (or cry over) a loved one who has died, they will magically come back to life.
Frozen 2 breaks this mold for Disney.
The film covers deep and heavy topics unknown to Disney princess films. The first Frozen broke the Disney formula by sharing “true love” doesn’t need to be romantic. The second film addresses loss, grief, depression, and how to find hope and personal growth through life’s uncertainties.
Because this is a children’s film, even kids can learn these lessons from a early age and bring these lifesaving truths into their adulthood. These are lessons that could have saved me years of heartache.
As someone who struggles with anxiety and depression, I cling to Frozen 2 like a weighted blanket to my soul. The film acknowledges the hard feelings I face, while providing healthy ways to cope through them. Frozen 2 gives permission to feel the way I do, while providing hope and strength in the struggle that I will make it through.
Here are some profound lessons Frozen 2 teaches about mental health.
1. Your conscience will lead you.
After we hear the chilling lullaby, All Is Found, the camera zooms on Elsa standing over the castle balcony. She hears a voice calling to her: the high-pitched, AHhh, aHHh, AHhh, AHHHH, that makes goose-bumps race and parents of young girls cringe. A guard startles her, and she asks if he heard anything. When he says he doesn’t, Elsa dismisses the voice to focus on her duties as Queen. After all, there is a kingdom celebration at hand.
Later that evening, Elsa plays a family game of charades. When it’s Elsa’s turn to mime the word ice, she miserably fails and gets distracted by the voice again. The girls lose the match. Flustered, Elsa excuses herself so she can get some sleep and escape the calling voice.
Torn between her duties as Queen and her heart’s longing to follow the voice, she continues to berate herself, feeling empty, lost, guilty, and ungrateful, like she should be satisfied with everything she could ever want right in front of her, yet feeling like something greater is calling and waiting for her to find it.
After a restless night of sleep and another outreach from the mysterious voice, Elsa sings the spine-chilling ballot of Into the Unknown as a way to express her heart’s torment of where she is now compared to where she longs to be.
She starts singing with denial and hesitancy.
I’ve had my adventure, I don’t need something new
I’m afraid of what I’m risking if I follow youInto the unknown
Throughout the song, she becomes more honest with herself, until she admits her struggle openly.
Every day’s a little harder as I feel my power grow
Don’t you know there’s part of me that longs to goInto the unknown
How many of us get stuck in this rut?
Things are going well. You finally get your degree. You finally have the paycheck you deserve. You finally marry the man of your dreams. Life should be good, and it is, but something feels missing. You get stuck living the routine, ignoring the greater dreams and longings of your heart. If life is good, how could we selfishly want anything more?
How many of us would push past our guilt and risk our comfort to appease our inner longing? How many of us would take the chance to find that “something new” or “something more” that feels like a missing piece from our souls?
Elsa eventually confides in her sister regarding the voice. With support from her closest allies, she risks leaving the comfortable and familiar to find the voice and discover what it means for her deeper meaning in life.
Lesson #1: Your inner voice matters. It is leading you to the greater things in life. If you confide in your inner circle, you will find the support you need to go after the dreams you’ve suppressed for so long. Just because life is good, doesn’t mean it can’t get better. Take the risk. Sacrifice the comfortable. You may find that missing piece you have been longing for.
2. Recognize that change is difficult.
When Anna finds Olaf spread comfortably on a picnic blanket, she joins him in the autumn sun. Lying under puffy clouds and blowing leaves, Olaf wonders aloud about the fragility of life and how “change mocks us with her beauty.”
“Do you ever worry about the notion that nothing is permanent?” he asks.
Anna pauses. “Ah, no.”
She explains she doesn’t worry about the future, because she’s content in the moment. She has her loved ones close by, and the gates are finally open. In her mind, life in Arendelle is finally as it should be.
To ingrain this ideology, the duo peruse Arendelle and sing about how Some Things Never Change, while everything surrounding them is in a flurry of change. Ironic, yes?
“Like an old stone wall that will never fall,” Anna sings, as the stone wall Olaf jumps on breaks beneath him. (Foreshadowing at its finest, but I digress.)
I agree with Anna that we should be grateful for where we are at and for the things we have. After all, the happiest people are those who learn to live in the moment.
However, I’m more of a realist. To deny the possibility of change, as she implies, is naive, irresponsible, and unrealistic. Everything changes to some degree, for better or for worse. It’s the nature of life, right? We need to accept that change as a possibility, which may have us feeling more grateful for the things we have, the people closest to us, and the moments we experience with them.
Because Anna refused to except change as a possibility, she had a harder time coping when change finally did come. (See Lesson #7.)
Lesson #2: To find balance, be thankful for what you have, yet recognize that change is possible. Denying change is unhealthy, but don’t dwell on impending change, either. To deny how challenging change can be will leave you feeling weary, trapped, and alone. When change does occur in life, give yourself some grace. Acknowledge that change is difficult. Only then, will you find the strength to make it through.
3. When life feels overwhelming, focus on what you can control.
One of my favorite scenes is when the kingdom of Arendelle has evacuated to the surrounding cliffs. As Kristoff and Sven distribute blankets to the villagers, they come across Olaf entertaining some kids. The children are giggling, sticking icicles in his face. Kristoff asks if he’s okay, and Olaf responds with a toothy grin.
“Oh, yeah! We’re calling this controlling what you can when things feel out of control.”
What profound advice from a talking snowman! The kingdom was just attacked by disembodied elements, which is terrifying. No one could control the disaster or the outcome. All they could do was flee to the haven of nearby cliffs and hope for the best.
Instead of becoming paralyzed by worry, Olaf found a better way to cope. Although, he could do nothing to change the situation, he found a safe, hands-on activity the kids could focus on (and control) in the midst of chaos that calmed and distracted their minds from their overwhelming, external circumstances.
Now, ignoring out-of-control situations is not the answer — but neither is fear paralysis. Sometimes we need to force ourselves into taking a mental break from everything spiraling out of control. To pause and rest by focusing on an unrelated, hands-on activity can bring rejuvenation and clarity when you return to the out-of-control situation.
This is why I enjoy outdoor walks and photography. Both activities force me outside my clouded thinking and into a bodily experience that brings calm and clarity to my external circumstances. Once I relax, I feel stronger and more capable of tackling my monsters, one step at a time.
Lesson #3: Many things in life are out of your control. When you feel overwhelmed, take a step out of the chaos. Find the eye of the storm. Take a break from the never ending problem-solving. Do a safe, hands-on activity that engages your body and gives your mind a rest. Once you’ve rejuvenated, focus on something you can tangibly control in your external circumstances. What’s an action step you can actually do to stimulate change? Then do that thing and repeat the process.
4. Growing up doesn’t make anything easier, but time can heal wounds.
When the group makes it into the Enchanted Forest, it doesn’t take long for Olaf to get lost. While he is separated from everyone else, the elemental spirits rage against him with crashing boulders, blustering winds, and billowing fires. While dodging blows and dancing in solitude, he sings:
This will all make sense when I am older.
Someday I will see that this makes sense.
What a lie.
Olaf sings this with irony for the adults watching, but when I was little, I sincerely believed this. I thought everyone in their twenties had their lives completely figured out. Taxes came naturally. Changing the oil in your car was second nature. Insurance was a no-brainer.
Now that I’ve reached the decade of maturity, I realize this is a complete and utter delusion. I think everyone in my generation has come to a similar conclusion as to why “adulting” has become a coined term in humor, yet it speaks to our unspoken betrayal of the lie we grew up believing.
Even though rising age in and of itself doesn’t bring clarity, overcoming the hurdles in life does. I have experienced heartbreak, betrayal, death, and disappointment. The curve balls of life are never-ending, but once I made it through a few, my faith grew. In a way, the certainty of my survival rate increased. My personal log of overcoming difficulties lengthens, and I can look back on all the ways I have made it through before. I’ve learned to trust that I will be okay, and that I will make it through.
One of my favorite, life-giving quotes is this:
“Everything will be okay in the end. If it’s not okay, it’s not the end.”
— John Lennon
Although getting older doesn’t make life easier, time really does help heal the broken pieces of our past. This goes along with surviving more of life’s uncertainties and learning to trust everything will be okay in the end.
Lesson #4: Getting older has nothing to do with understanding life better. However, the more you survive life’s difficulties, the more resilient you become. You grow in trusting that you will be okay in the end. “Live and learn,” as they say. Time and overcoming life’s struggles will bring hope and clarity more readily than any passing calendar year.
5. Only you can control your actions, not the actions of others.
Anna, Elsa, and Olaf discover their parents’ dilapidated ship washed up on shore within the Enchanted Forest. From a map inside a hidden compartment on the ship, the sisters discover their parents’ intent for their perilous journey of the first film: to find Ahtohallan and the source of Elsa’s powers.
Considering Olaf’s ongoing theory that “water has memories,” Elsa conjures the water droplets from within the ship to form what appears to be their parents hugging and consoling one another — it’s the moment before the water took the ship and their lives. It all proves too much for Elsa, and she runs from the boat, sobbing.
“This is my fault,” Elsa says. “They were looking for answers about me.”
“You are not responsible for their choices, Elsa,” Anna replies.
“No, just their deaths.”
Ouch.
Elsa has carried so much guilt for her entire life. Not only did she hurt her sister with her ice powers when they were children and have to conceal her true identity from the world, but now she discovers her secret was the very thing that led her parents to their demise.
Double ouch.
Elsa believes it is her fault that her parents died at sea. In reality, her parents had control of their own actions. It was her parents’ choice to leave the kingdom and search for answers. They knew the risk they were taking, yet they chose to go anyway.
I, like Elsa, often feel responsible for the actions of other people. I feel guilty if my behaviors cause people to feel pain or stress, even if what I did or said was done in the most loving and honest way possible. I might be able to influence the way people think and behave, but I cannot change what they ultimately decide to think or do. This is the nature of free will.
Just as I would not want someone to take responsibility for my actions, I should not allow myself to take responsibility for the actions of others. By letting this go, and trusting that others can find their way, I can do a better job at managing my own thoughts and behaviors in a healthy way.
Lesson #5: You can only control your own actions. Navigating your own behaviors to be loving, honest, and mature in the midst of feeling guilt, pain, and stress is hard enough. You cannot control the behaviors of other people. Nor can you control how they will respond to your actions. Don’t even try. Let go of this responsibility. Doing so, you will find internal freedom and peace.
6. Finding yourself is a difficult yet worthwhile journey.
Show Yourself brings me to tears every time. It represents the copulation of Elsa’s journey through both films. By the end of the first Frozen, Elsa learns to accept herself for who she is, powers and all. The second film is a journey to figure out why she has these powers, and she uncovers her true destiny as the Fifth Spirit.
Her solo struggle to Ahtohallan, fighting against the crashing waves and the Nokk is painfully difficult to watch, yet she gets a little closer with every try. With her goal so close at hand, she cannot give up. Elsa is able to keep pressing on with determination and grit, even as the waves crash and pull her under time and time again.
Likewise, growing in self-awareness and getting to know ourselves is never an easy process. It’s true that no one knows you better than you, but how well do you really know yourself?
It takes intentional, internal work to grow in self-understanding. It’s painful to look behind the curtain of our lives and question our auto-pilot existence, yet this searching leads to a well of hope, healing, and personal growth we could never find otherwise.
On my own journey of self-discovery, I’ve learned to recognize my knee-jerk thoughts, behaviors, and tendencies and ask the soul-searching question of, “Why?”
- I can’t trust myself to make decisions and need to look for external validation from trusted others before I can move forward. — Why?
- I get frustrated every time someone shows up to the house unexpectedly, or I’m asked to do something last-minute. — Why?
- Even though I do ten-million things for my job, I still feel like a failure at the end of the day. — Why?
Asking good questions and taking time to reflect on my answers is the best way I’ve learned to grow in self-understanding.
Although it might seem like age-old advice, journaling is an incredible way to calm the mind, reduce stress, and improve your mood. I speak from experience. My most inspiring and optimistic days are those I began with 30-minutes of quiet journaling over candlelight. With a little self-discipline and learning how to journal the right way, anyone can use this simple exercise to uncover their true selves.
The Enneagram is also an excellent resource for self-discovery. It has the language and tools you need to dive deeper into understanding your core motivations and why you think and behave the way you do. For anyone interested in learning more about themselves and how they can improve their relationships, I would highly recommend learning about the Enneagram and how to apply it to their lives. It’s more than a personality assessment; it’s a gateway to personal transformation. Again, I speak from experience.
Finally, the counsel of licensed therapists can guide your walk in self-understanding. Counselors are trained to listen and ask great questions. Who doesn’t want a nonjudgmental third-party to pour their hearts out to and receive life-saving advice from? Although I might not feel instantaneously changed, I will walk away from each session with simple exercises and thought-provoking questions that help me achieve wholeness, inner peace, and self-mastery.
Therapy shouldn’t be a last-ditch effort; it should be a resource anyone can use at any point in their lives to get back on track toward mental well-being and launch deeper into self-discovery. Seeking a counselor shouldn’t come with a stigma; it should come with encouragement and liberation.
Lesson #6: Get to know who you really are. What motivates and triggers you? Learn to recognize your auto-pilot responses. Ask yourself why you react this way. Dive deeper by asking good questions. Use the resources, tools, and trusted people around you to guide your walk into greater self-awareness. Self-discovery is a painful journey, yet one of the most rewarding ones you can take in life.
7. When depression weighs you down, just do the next right thing.
After Anna abandons her true love, gets betrayed by her sister, and clutches to the dying breaths of Olaf, she finds herself alone. Inside a cold, wet cave, literally at rock bottom, with nothing left to fight for, she sings through throat-catching sobs:
I’ve seen dark before, but not like this
This is cold, this is empty, this is numb
The life I knew is over, the lights are out
Hello, darkness, I’m ready to succumb
Those are dark lyrics for a Disney film — especially sung from a Disney princess. Disney princesses are supposed to be the epitome of hope. In contrast, these lyrics are gut-wrenching, a punch from cold reality, and probably some of the most relatable words I have ever sang along with.
I’m sure many of us can relate to Anna’s feelings of loss and hopelessness. I have been to these pits of despair. It’s a dark and lonely place where simply breathing hurts. It’s where life feels meaningless, limbs go numb, and you’re beckoned to question, “Do I really matter? Does any of this matter?”
However, Anna doesn’t sit in the pit of darkness for long. Her song continues with the smallest sliver of hope:
This grief has a gravity, it pulls me down
But a tiny voice whispers in my mind
You are lost, hope is gone
But you must go on
And do the next right thing
After sitting in her grief and acknowledging her deep agony, Anna still clings to hope. Although she might not see it in the moment, she trusts and believes that a string of hope exists. Somehow. Someway. Life must to go on, even if it’s one step at a time.
This is the key.
It’s easy to sit in sadness. I have spent night after night drowning in tear-soaked pillows, thinking I’m broken and alone. After a fit fill night of sleep, what happens? The dawn breaks. A new day begins.
The truth is: you matter. You have a reason for being here. Anything contrary is a lie. You might not feel like you matter or that life is not worth living, but that is the lie. Easier said than believed, though. I’ve been there. We need to fight to speak the truth over ourselves and others, and find people who will speak life into our everyday existence. Only then, will we find the courage to go on.
Hope can be a hard thing to find when you’re blinded by darkness, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. Even in darkness, you can feel your way forward. By trusting in hope, you cannot give up on yourself, and we cannot give up on each other.
When all seems lost, just choose to do the next right thing.
Lesson #7: Acknowledge your inner pain. It’s okay to grieve. Depression is real. Recognize the lies you may be telling yourself. Rebuke these with truth. No matter where you are, hope exists on the horizon. Never give up on hope. To keep moving forward, find the people who will encourage you and just do the next right thing.
Frozen 2 broke the Disney mold by addressing life’s darkest emotions. The film addresses loss, grief, and depression, while providing lifesaving truths anyone of any age can apply to their life to find greater peace, happiness, and wholeness. I have found immense hope and healing through Frozen 2, and I hope the movie helps you to feel seen in your struggle and encourages you to find the strength you need to get through life’s greatest challenges.
Is there a life lesson from Frozen 2 you would add to this list? What profound message did you learn by watching Frozen 2? How will you learn to apply these lessons to your own life? Comment below!
