What Do You Want?

Living out your dream is not always easy, but we make it harder than it needs to be.  Let's be real, when you decide--I mean when you really decide--to pursue your dreams you jump, not off the top step, but to jump off the highest point, in the highest place with the possibility that you will not land in the place you will end up.  But how can you not?  And in the pursuit of that place you want to be we begin to forget about the place we are now, and that we are where we are supposed to be at this appointed time. 

Dream finding is a selfish feat.  Selfish because people may not understand why you are trying so hard instead of taking the 30 year, 9 to 5, 401(k) easy way out.  I think about a guy I went to high school with--Elton Anderson.  Elton left his corporate America, "secure" job to pursue a career as a professional photographer having only taken one photography class, one semester, during his college years.  And even though it may have been the single most scariest thing he's ever done in his life, and even though family and friends had their opinions and feelings about his decision--it was worth it.  Because if you look at his pictures, and you see his life, you know that taking that leap is always worth it because even if you don't land where you imagine, you always land better than you would have ended up if you took the simple, "secure" way out.  There is nothing better than living life doing what you love!

My greatest fear is getting to the end of my life and meeting the person I could have become if I weren't afraid to step out on faith.  And this goes with every aspect of my life.  I've come to learn that people judge what others doing based on the fears they have within themselves.  But when it comes down it, true happiness, true joy has more to do with defining what you want and going after it, rather than accepting where you are hoping that one day things will be different. 

Today, the perverbial shoes that I often refer to are tight on my feet once again.  And although the pain of moving forward, and shoes that don't quite fit can be very uncomfortable and seemingly unbearable, it's in the pain, in the stretching beyond your present limits that makes those new pair of shoes feel so much better.   So today, I'm focused on what I want.  I'm focused on what is best for me.  I'm aceepting what I know I deserve, and hitting the dance floor, in the crowd, full of confidence, laced with joy, dancing like there's no one watching!