“What is child, what is adult, anyway? It has more to do with a feeling. You don’t get rid of who you are or where you come from. But the point is, everyone is trying to get back to a certain kind of purity anyway. It has less to do with being a child, and more to do with keeping an open, wonderful, twisted view on the world.”

— Tim Burton, film maker

Life can be twisted sometimes.

From the time we’re little, we’re told we can be whatever we want to be. Society tells us to be ourselves, then turns around and judges for listening. From friends to family to our own inner dialogue, marching to the beat of a different drummer can seem… well…daunting. Exhausting. Impossible, even.

Carving your own niche can feel like sticking yourself in the corner, you know?

Sometimes you need a little nudge to keep doing your thing. Sometimes you need a little redirection to make your own path. Sometimes you need a little pick-me-up when you feel like a total outcast…

Sometimes you need a Tim Burton reminder that perspective is everything. Or 20 reminders, why not?

1.

“I’ve been nothing but myself since the day I was born. And if you can’t see that, that’s your failing. Not mine.”

— Big Fish

2.

“You can’t make an omelet without breaking a few eggs!”

— Batman

3.

“You cannot live your life to please others. The choice must be yours, because when you step out to face that creature, you will step out alone.”

— Alice in Wonderland

4.

“These aren’t my rules. Come to think of it, I don’t have any rules…”

— Beetlejuice

5.

“Some things in this world are better left where they lie. But if you know where to look, these ruins are full of riches.”

— Nine

6.

“When conducting an experiment, trying is the important thing. It’s okay to fail, as long as you keep trying!”

— Frankenweenie

7.

“The more you lie, the smaller you seem… You don’t know what it’s like to put your emotions out there for the world to see.”

— Big Eyes

8.

“There are a whole lot of things in this world of ours you haven’t even started wondering about yet.”

— James and the Giant Peach

9.

“It is truth. But truth is not always appearance.”

— Sleepy Hollow

10.

“Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it… I am not finished.”

— Edward Scissorhands

11.

“You haven’t lost your smile at all, it’s right under your nose. You just forgot it was there.”

— The Corpse Bride

12.

“You know what?!? I mistook me for someone else…”

— Batman Returns

13.

“Just because I cannot see it, doesn’t mean I can’t believe it!”

— The Nightmare Before Christmas

14.

“Improvisation is a parlor trick. Anyone can do it.”

— Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

15.

“You are young. Life has been kind to you… you will learn.”

— Sweeny Todd: The Demon Barber

16.

“You wanna conquer the world.”

— Mars Attacks

17.

“For if a man can become a monster, then a monster can become a man.”

— Dark Shadows

18.

“Visions are worth fighting for. Why spend your life making someone else’s dreams?”

— Ed Wood

19.

“You might not change the past, but you might learn something from it.”

— Alice Through the Looking Glass

20.

“I used to dream about escaping my ordinary life, but my life was never ordinary. I had simply failed to realize how extraordinary it was.”

— Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children

Never apologize for being yourself. Don’t be sorry you see beauty where others can’t. Stop holding your past failures over your own head. Reinvent yourself as many times as you want to.

Just do YOUR thing today! And tomorrow… and the day after.

See, you don’t have to worry about achieving perfection once you realize there’s no such thing as perfect.

Moral is, create the world you want to live in! Do what you love.

“It seems if you’re passionate about something, it freaks people out. You’re considered bizarre or eccentric. To me, it just means you know who you are… one person’s craziness is another person’s reality…don’t worry about how you ‘should’ draw it, draw it the way you SEE it.”

— Tim Burton