I Want More: What Disney Forgot to Tell You
From Wishing Wells to Worship: The Longing Beneath the Longing
This question was sent in by a young reader:
"Hey Aaron. Sometimes, if I’m honest, it FEELS like chasing things like success, money, or fame… just makes you want even MORE.
How do you notice when that’s happening…and how do you fight it?"
Dear Friend,
You’ve lobbed a question like a grenade into the ribcage of modern life: How do we spot the hunger for more before it eats us alive?
It’s a good question—an honest one—and I commend you for daring to ask it! This longing, this ache for more, is not merely a temptation we resist; it is, more often than not, a story we’ve learned to tell ourselves.
Over and over again, the script runs:
More money = peace.
More applause = worth.
More wins = rest.
That's the gospel of the algorithm, the catechism of late capitalism
—and it's a scam.
Far from being merely personal… this problem is cultural. The air we breathe is thick with it. Our songs sing of it. Our stories glorify it. And slowly, almost imperceptibly, we begin to believe that “more” is the path to meaning.
But what if it isn’t?
Let us sit with that for a moment. I believe that discontent, if examined rightly, can become a doorway. Let me show you what I mean.
The I Wish Song
There’s a classic trope in media called the “I Wish” song, and you can find it in almost every musical marketed to young people.
Think about Disney’s classic “I Wish” songs.
These moments in the story are where the characters open their hearts and bare their deepest longings.
It’s compelling because we see ourselves in it. We’ve all felt that ache for more — for connection, adventure, or something beyond what life is offering us right now.
Snow White: The Desire for Connection
Snow White, the first Disney princess, sings about her longing for love while standing at a wishing well.
I’m wishing
For the one I love
To find me
Today
Her song expresses a deep human desire — to be loved, valued, and cherished.
And it’s not just Snow White’s story — it’s ours. We all want to be chosen, to be seen, to feel like we matter.
But here’s the truth: If we try to fill that longing with human relationships or external achievements alone, we’ll never be satisfied.
Those things can be beautiful gifts, but they were never meant to complete us.
Belle: The Desire for Freedom and Meaning
Then there’s Belle from Beauty and the Beast.
Her song is less about love and more about longing for adventure and freedom (which Is why I personally relate to it the most):
I want adventure in the great wide somewhere
I want it more than I can tell
And for once it might be grand
To have someone understand
I want so much more than they’ve got planned
She’s not content with her small-town life. She wants to break free from the mundane, to experience something extraordinary.
And doesn’t that resonate with us?
So many of us feel trapped by our circumstances, longing for purpose, meaning, and a life that feels bigger than our own.
The problem is, when we chase purpose apart from God, we end up running in circles.
True purpose isn’t found in adventure or success; it’s found in living for the One who created us.
Ariel: The Desire for Something Beyond
Ariel’s “I Wish” song in The Little Mermaid is perhaps the most explicit about the longing for more. She looks at the human world and aches to be part of it:
I’ve got gadgets and gizmos aplenty
I’ve got whosits and whatsits galore
You want thingamabobs?
I got twenty
But who cares?
No big deal
I want more
Ariel isn’t just curious… she’s possessed by the ghost of what she beleives she lacks. She’s got a hoarder’s cave of human trinkets, but none of it scratches the itch.
That line “I want mooooore” is her primal howl against the fear of missing out. And here’s the sting: you’ve probably sung it too.
This longing for something “more” points to a deep truth about humanity.
We weren’t made to find ultimate fulfillment in this world.
C.S. Lewis said it beautifully:
“If I find in myself desires which nothing in this world can satisfy, the only logical explanation is that I was made for another world.”
Ariel’s song reflects the same tension we all feel: We want more because we were made for more.
But the “more” we seek won’t be found in a new world, more possessions, or better circumstances.
It’s found in God.
The False Promises of the World
The world is really good at offering us counterfeit answers to this longing.
Fame. Wealth. Success. They all promise to fill the emptiness, to satisfy the ache.
But here’s the reality: They don’t.
Fame makes you known, but it can’t make you loved.
Wealth buys comfort, but it can’t buy peace.
Success fuels your ego, but it can’t heal your soul.
Chasing success, fame, or comfort is like drinking saltwater in a desert.
You’ll die hydrated... on paper. Meanwhile, your soul shrivels.
That’s the trick: the promises feel almost true.
But they’re vampires dressed as saviors.
In fact… I have to pause for a moment and get very real…
As much as I LOVE classic disney films from the 90s… Let’s drop the dramatic/narrative drama and just say the quiet part out loud:
“Kid, your endless desire for ‘more’ isn’t poetic. It’s a Stranger-Things Demogorgon… and, if you don’t learn to master it… it WILL eat your joy, suck your soul, and turn you into a husk with a LinkedIn and broken dreams.”
Knowing this is half the battle.
Recognizing and Combating the Desire for More
So, how do we combat this endless cycle of wanting more? Here are a few key steps:
1. Recognize the Root of the Longing
Ask yourself: What am I really chasing?
Are you really chasing wealth… or the illusion of being untouchable?
Recognition… or the lie that being seen equals being loved?
Purpose… or a reason not to fall apart?
Oftentimes, our pining for “more” isn’t really about the thing we’re pursuing — it’s about what we think it will give us. When you can name the deeper longing, you can invite God into that space to meet the need in a way the world never could.
2. Reframe the Desire for More
The longing for “more” isn’t inherently bad — it’s misdirected.
God created us with a desire for more because He is the ultimate “more.”
You aren’t wrong to want more. You were just lied to about where to find it.
The problem comes when we try to satisfy that longing with temporary things, rather than the person we ourselves were made for.
Psalm 16:11 says:
“You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”
The fullness we’re searching for is found in Him.
3. Practice Gratitude
One of the simplest ways to combat the desire for “more” is to practice gratitude for what you already have.
When you focus on God’s goodness and faithfulness in your life, your perspective shifts. Instead of fixating on what’s missing, you start to see the abundance that’s already there.
4. Anchor Yourself in Eternity
Fame, wealth, and success are temporary. They won’t last.
But the things of God — His love, His kingdom, His purpose — are eternal.
Colossians 3:2 says:
“Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.”
When you focus on eternity, the things of this world lose their grip on you.
Final Thoughts
The desire for “more” is real. It’s powerful. But it doesn’t have to control you.
The next time you feel that ache, that restlessness, stop and ask:
Am I chasing the world’s version of “more”?
Or am I seeking the One who is more than enough?
Because the ache you keep mislabeling as ambition, as loneliness, as failure… is actually homesickness for God.
And nothing else is going to shut it up.
Centuries ago, a man named Augustine dragged his weary soul through every counterfeit “more” the Roman world could offer—pleasure, power, philosophy.
He tried to outrun the ache with sex, rhetoric, and success.
None of it worked. The longing outpaced him at every turn.
It wasn’t until he collapsed into God that he could finally say:
“You have made us for Yourself, O Lord,
and our heart is restless until it rests in You.”
That restlessness you feel? That itch behind the soul? That’s not failure. That’s your Father calling you home.
Don’t self-medicate it.
Don’t monetize it.
Don’t numb it.
Follow it.
Let it lead you to the only One who was ever enough.