I like team movies... why?

I like shows like this with teams working together... shows like Avatar the Last Airbender (series not movie) where there's Team Avatar, and Gurren Lagann, and even Naruto, the first series.

They all focus on one of the team members as the protagonist and the protagonist needs to learn to work together with a team and rely on others and they need to learn to trust and rely on him as well to achieve more than they could as a collection of individuals.

That's my favorite kind of movie. Avengers Endgame is an excellent example of that happening. That group of strong, capable individuals, all of whom are accustomed to being the coolest person in the room learning to subsume that inclination into believing that they are powerful cogs in an even more powerful machine that is the team.

Persevering against all odds to achieve great things together when you definitely couldn't do it alone. That will make me happy cry just about every time in a movie or well-done TV series.

One of my favorite things about my previous job as a store manager and as a manager of managers was to see how effectively we could work as a collective, as a team. Everybody moving in the same direction at the same time and all working to carry the whole store along, not just themselves. I feel like I did that okay, helped bring out a team feeling without saying team often at all. I think that metaphor is overused in the workplace.

It's something I miss a lot at this job. It's just me most of the time. I mean, I'm a mechanic on a press. There's not really a lot of use for more than one at a time. But I miss that feeling of being a part of something bigger moving in the same direction for the greater good of something to achieve more.

A thing I do/did... when I'm walking somewhere I pick up stuff on the floor. There's always stuff on the floor that needs picking up. If I'm talking with someone as I walk, less now than before because of my job and social distancing, etc. But if I'm walking and talking and start picking up stuff... it's not long before the other person is too. Not always, but often. I don't say anything, I just do it to see how long it takes them to do it as well... I'd like to think that something like that could be catching. That idea that seeing something needs doing and doing it because we're all in the same boat is a good one to be a part of.

I see it in the shows I listed above.

One of my favorite quotes from a TV series is from Gurren Lagann and it goes something like, "If you don't believe in yourself believe in the me that believes in you." I love that. I've said that to people before. "Do you trust me? Do you think I'm a good judge of character and of people? Do you think I'm stupid or make stupid decisions? Okay then... I believe you can do it. Trust me and believe me and act like you can because I believe in you. Trust and believe me when it's hard for you to believe yourself. Don't let fear stop you. Remember I know you can do it and do it. I know you can."

It works. Having people around you who believe in you, who trust you, who have your back and you have theirs... people are capable of so much more when that's the case. Everybody does better. Everybody wins. I love that. I love that feeling.

I'm often accused of being an idealist. I'm only an idealist because I've seen this happen. I know it's real. I know it can happen and can work. I've done it. I've been there when it was done. I've been a part of it and it's awesome. It's like "being in the zone" all the time because when one character in the show slips or stumbles, they don't even slow down their movement forward because there's someone there to catch them by the elbow and keep them moving forward toward their shared goal.