Last weekend, a friend invited me to go to a European festival movie: NAYOLA. It's a 2022 animated film involving 3 generations of women during the devastating Angolan civil war. I have no interest in the Angolan war (I avoid war movies) and I dislike animation - I associate it with cartoons.
So I said yes.
Given recent events in Israel, I figured war was already steeped in the air. The story was both absorbing and emotional. The animation was magnificent: exquisitely artistic, vivid and dramatic and completely blew apart my narrow previous perspective.
I'm all for holding boundaries about what experiences I invite into my life. But sometimes it's worth stepping over them to discover new territory and stretch.