What did this movie do to me?  I was supposed to watch Wicked with my wife and daughter.  We had to purchase Wicked and went for Inside Out 2 instead.  Kid's movie, right?  Not so much.

Inside Out 2 is the sequel to Pixar’s Inside Out and follows Riley, now a 13-year-old teenager, as she deals with new emotions during puberty.  Specifically at a hockey camp for high performers.

When her original emotions,  Joy, Sadness, Anger, Fear, and Disgust, think they have things under control, a group of new emotions suddenly show up: Anxiety, Embarrassment, Envy, and Ennui (boredom). Anxiety takes charge, convinced she needs to protect Riley from messing up her life. This leads to chaos inside Riley’s mind as her emotions clash over how to handle the pressures of growing up.

Ultimately, Riley learns that all her emotions, even the difficult ones, are essential in helping her in life.

Sadly, my emotions of anxiety and an overactive sadness have been taking center stage in my life for many years.  I felt like an emotional teenager after this movie.  But maybe worse, since I am 55.

Growing up, emotions were only good if they were happy or fine.  Nothing else fit into my parents' paradigm for displaying emotions and coaching their kids in it.  This movie brought all of this to life for me.  First off, these girls skated like NHL all-stars.  This is coming from someone who can't skate.  Second, it felt like these emotions came together way too clean at the end.  My life has been an internal mass of spaghetti, not nice, clean, bright lines like in the movie.

I felt stupid and a little infantile by the end.  I have beaten myself up so much and allowed others to do the same. Who am I?  What are my beliefs?  Where does God fit in?  What healing can he bring?  Right now, I am frustrated and easily hurt by myself and others.  God help me!