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Walter Mitty Taking Risks

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Risk-taking is an inevitable part of life. One must take risks if they want to accomplish anything for themselves, as success is not born from taking the easy way out. However, taking risks is no easy task, as it requires a lot of courage and self-confidence to do things outside of one’s comfort zone. Walter Mitty discovers this in himself in the film The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, directed by Ben Stiller. The movie follows Mitty on his journey of self-discovery and transformation into a more courageous human being willing to take more risks. The audience learns through his experiences that self-confidence plays a pivotal role in one’s willingness to take risks, in that one cannot take risks without an adequate level of confidence in themselves …show more content…

After he returns from his journey to find the missing negative, Mitty’s self-confidence and willingness to take risks have surpassed the level they were at during his childhood. Thanks to Cheryl being a supporting figure in his life for him, Mitty’s confidence in himself has strengthened to the point where he’s no longer afraid of doing things outside his comfort zone. When he meets his beard-faced boss, whom he feared at the beginning of the movie, to give negative #25, he has enough self-confidence to take a risk in standing up to him without hesitating as he teases him. Similarly, he is not afraid of talking to Cheryl anymore, and as a result, he wins her heart over in the end. Mitty’s journey of self-discovery has made him fearless and more confident than ever, all this being an outcome of him having someone who supported him and encouraged him to take risks.
Ben Stiller uses Mitty’s experiences throughout the film to show that self-confidence plays a crucial role in one’s willingness to take risks. If one wishes to increase their level of self-confidence, they must find people in their life who will support and encourage them as they take risks. Mitty finds this in the form of Cheryl, whom he develops a relationship with and who encourages him to be more confident in himself and take more risks. His journey transforms him into a more courageous man and makes him more satisfied with his life

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