And isn’t that so much like life? How often are we doing what it takes to accomplish our goals and live out our dreams? How often are we doing the work required to manifest our dreams versus thinking about all of the reasons we cannot? “I don’t have time.” “I don’t have money.” “I’m so busy.” “I need to go back to school.” Enough. So this morning I decided I’m done chasing my dreams. Instead I will run for my life. Either I am going to pursue life with relentless passion and fervor or I’m going to shut up talking about my false dreams and accept reality. We only get one chance at this. And doggone it… I’m ready to live.
Let’s be real. Chasing our dreams is the classic case of the “grass is greener on the other side” syndrome. Looking at life through a glass window wishing you could afford to buy what’s on the other side is pointless. What about the grass on this side of the window? What if we nurtured it? Fertilized it? Pruned it now? What if we worked with the tools, resources and gifts God has already given us to make the most of life today? Instead, we waste hours and days of our lives coveting other people’s stuff, wishing their lives were our own and the result is often a bunch of nothingness. No forward movement. No progress. Just empty dreams that we chase with no intention of ever catching them.
It’s an interesting phenomenon really. One of my advisers recently fussed at me for this very thing. “Too many times” she said. “We are so busy responding to what we believe is urgent, that we lose sight of what’s most important. We trade the important for the urgent. When we start doing the things that are important though… that’s when shit really gets done.” Wow! I thought. She was right. Spending all of this time dreaming of writing, dreaming of telling my story, dreaming of publishing a book really meant I was doing just that. Dreaming. Talk. Talk. Talk. And doing nothing to make that dream a reality. So I declare it today. I will stop dreaming and start doing. I will do what I am supposed to do to live my dreams.
After I finished the run, cooled off and stopped fussing about how hot and hilly it was, I smiled because it was over and I was one step closer to running my best race ever. I finished what I set out to do. It didn’t matter that I was slow or that I walked a little or even that I stumbled and grumbled along the way. What did matter is that I took a few steps toward my goal. What mattered most was that today I did not dream about running. I ran.
As I went home to shower and get ready for work, happiness found me. And it stayed with me throughout the day. In the end, I felt a little more accomplished, a little more proud and I was satisfied in the simplicity of knowing that progress was made. Today I didn’t chase my dreams. I ran for my life. The life I have. And the life I’ve been dreaming of.
xoxo,
Shani