She swam into our hearts fifteen years ago, and now she’s the star of her own box-office record-breaking film. She is Dory, the lovable and forgetful Blue Tang fish who played a huge part in "Finding Nemo" back in 2003.

Now she is on a new and personal mission: to find her own family.

Despite exploring an entire different environment, and having some encounters with fresh faces, Dory has managed to maintain her original and optimistic personality through it all.

Even though Dory has no sense of direction, she has undoubtedly proven herself to be a source of guidance for the common people.

When Marlin the clownfish was separated from his son Nemo, Marlin swam frantically across the ocean in all directions until he bumped into (literally) the blue and yellow-tailed Dory. Now when people bump into each other, the norm seems to have it that we tell each other to watch where we’re going, apologize and maybe help each other up, or continue walking like it never happened.

Dory did not do any of these things. She apologized to Marlin and tried to comfort him as he panicked about finding the boat that took his son away from him. Most people don’t drop everything in their lives to help the person they just so happened to run into, but Dory did. Granted, she clearly forgot what she was doing a minute later, but the point is she was willing to help someone—who was clearly in distress—in any way possible.

This can be taken as the foundation for a solid friendship.

Another admirable quality of Dory is how accepting she is. When you see someone or something that looks dangerous. Your first instinct is to run away. However, Dory faces danger with a much more civilized approach. After failing to locate the boat, Marlin and dory come face-to-face with Bruce, the Great White shark. The timid Marlin swam back a little bit, but Dory smiled at Bruce and said, “Well, hi!”

Dory felt strongly about giving Bruce a chance, and she was right in doing so. She and Marlin realized that Bruce was in the process of weening himself from eating fish—a trait they never would have guessed had they merely swam away.

That’s another thing we can all learn from Dory: Everything is not what it seems.

What’s more is that dory has a solid mantra she chants whenever things get rough: Just keep swimming. Unlike Marlin (or most of us), Dory is able to pick herself back up and move on—even when it looks completely hopeless.

So the next time you find yourself facing the dark and endless abyss, be like Dory and just keep swimming.

Dory’s loyalty knows no boundaries. Marlin was about to give up on her when she was momentarily distracted by a school of wisecracking Moonfish. He felt like no one was listening when he told Dory, “No one in this entire ocean is going to help me.” It was then that Dory remembered her prime directive. “Well, I’m helping you.”

And with that, Dory asked for directions to P. Sherman, 42 Wallaby Way, Sydney. Just when Marlin though she couldn’t trust her, Dory demonstrated her true devotion in ceasing her foolishness for a moment and got the mission back on the right track.

Dory taught us to never forget our friends—as hard as it may be.

What makes Dory so irresistible is her ability to turn a challenge into a game. We all remember that one scene when Marlin and Dory find themselves in the middle of a school of jellyfish. It was Dory’s fascination with the bounciness of the jellyfish’s heads to make Marlin realize they could escape this mess—so long as they avoided the deadly tentacles. Dory saw the potential of turning this exit strategy into a race.

Unfortunately, Dory was stung pretty badly when she tried to be the first one out. But the thing to remember here is that she stared death in the face and laughed. This is a strategy that humans can benefit from: don’t be afraid to act a little childish in an adult situation.

I could go on and on about what a special snowflake Dory is…and I will!

For those of you who haven’t seen Finding Nemo yet, where have you been? You must be living under a rock if you don’t know at least one full sentence in whale.

Dory comes off as scatterbrained, and while this may be true, she’s also well-rounded.

She was the first creature to introduce to the human world the language of the whale. Even though such a language sounds odd and foreign to those who are unfamiliar with it, try to remember that all languages are odd when you don’t speak them. Having said that, learning a new language can be both fun and beneficial. Like Dory, take it slow and think carefully about what you’re saying.

Finally, while she may not have any children of her own, Dory knows of an important rule of being a parent. That rule is that all children need experience in order to grow. Marlin, whilst in the mouth of a whale, explained to Dory how he once promised Nemo that he would never let anything happen to him. Dory considered this for a moment. “…That’s a funny thing to promise,” Marlin looked at her, slightly taken aback. “Well, you can’t never let anything happen to him,” She explained. “Because then nothing would ever happen to him! Not much fun for little Harpo [Nemo].”

We can all take something away from watching Finding Nemo, but most of what we learn comes from Dory. We learn how to believe in ourselves; we learn how to look on the bright side of things; and we learn how to accept adventure and excitement in our lives—even if we can’t remember what happened.