I almost didn’t go to the Super Mario Galaxy movie. And I’m really glad I did.

If I’m being honest, I didn’t feel like going at all. It felt like one more thing on the calendar, one more place to be. But I went for the kids, and somewhere along the way, it became something else. It ended up being a really nice time, not in a big, life changing way, but in a quiet, unexpected way that stayed with me.

The nostalgia hit almost immediately. The sound of Mario jumping on Yoshi, the visuals that reminded me of playing hours of Mario 3, that specific kind of focus where time disappears and nothing else matters. I even found myself thinking about the Game Genie, because I was terrible at video games and needed all the help I could get. And still, I loved it. I kept playing anyway. That feeling came back, not the pressure to be good at something, just the simple joy of doing it.

It made me realize how far away we can get from that. Somewhere along the way, everything starts to feel like it needs to be productive, useful, worth something, or leading somewhere. Even the things that are supposed to be for us start to carry that weight. And this experience reminded me of something really important. There is so much value in doing something just for fun, in playing, in letting yourself be fully in something without thinking about what it’s doing for you or how good you are at it.

That kind of freedom is rare, but it’s also something we can choose. It’s actually what art journaling invites in. It gives you a space where there is no right way to do it, no expectation to be good, and no outcome you need to reach. It’s accessible to anyone. You don’t need to be creative, you don’t need to know what you’re doing, and you don’t even need to have a clear idea of what you want to express. You just start.

And in that process, something shifts. It’s fun, yes, but it’s also deeper than that. It becomes a way to move what’s been sitting inside you, a way to reconnect with parts of yourself that have been quiet for a long time, a way to feel a little more like you.

Sometimes we need something outside of ourselves to remind us of what we actually need or enjoy. For me, it was a movie I almost didn’t go to. For you, it might be something else. It might be a quiet moment with a journal and some color. It might be having someone guide you into it so you don’t have to figure it out on your own.

Because the truth is, most of us aren’t missing the desire for this. We’re just missing the space, the permission, or the support to actually do it. And when we have that, even something small can bring us back to ourselves in a really meaningful way.

Sometimes all it takes is one moment of remembering.