Yesterday’s quote “Please know that you are good enough to do all that you truly want to do” is a gentle reminder that we all DESERVE to have dreams and when we believe they’re possible, they can come true.
Whenever I’ve said this to others, I’ve often heard things such as “I really need to remember this.” Yes, you do. But what made you forget it in the first place? I know that one reason is that life gets busy, and demands are placed on us – you know, things like rent, groceries, tuition and responsibilities at work, etc. All these things pile up and before you know it, dreams are just that. Dreams.
At some point, our dreams can start to feel unattainable. Maybe someone tells us that we’re not capable of achieving our dream, or they shame us into feeling that it’s selfish to have that dream in the first place. Or they encourage us to pursue other dreams, some of which may even be more lucrative. Slowly but surely, dreams fade and we start working hard to convince ourselves that everything is “fine”, and it was a silly dream anyway.
Without a doubt, sometimes we outgrow our dreams and they’re replaced by new, more exciting dreams. I love it when that happens because when someone describes their new dream with genuine joy, their face shows it. And guess what, they believe that they deserve to dream and that it’s possible for the dream to come true.
The opposite of this is when we give up on dreams that mean something to us. This happens either because we feel that we don’t deserve to have the dream, or someone convinces us that we don’t.
Let’s dive a little deeper into the possibility that you don’t feel you deserve to have the dream. If this is how you feel, it’s important to understand why. I only get about 500 words in this blog so I can’t dig deep on every possibility, but I will ask that you ask yourself if you feel this way because of some of the following reasons:
- You’re afraid that you’ll fail so it’s easier to give up on your dream than risking failure.
- You’re not afraid that you’ll fail, you’re afraid you’ll succeed and succeeding means that your life will change which scares the heck out of you.
- You worry that if you follow your dream people you love will be disappointed in you. Are you sure they’ll be disappointed?
Life is complex and there are many reasons behind the decisions we make. One approach that’s worked for me is that if I had a dream and I knew pursuing it would be disruptive to the lives of the people I love, I considered if I could still make my dream happen but at a slower pace. In my book I talk at length about going to night school for fifteen years to get my undergrad degree. I did that because I was married and had a family that I needed to support so I kept the dream alive in a way that worked for my family. Let me tell you, it was a very slow process, but I have zero regrets about that.
As I close out this week’s blog, I ask you to ask yourself if you’ve given up on a dream that you still hold deeply in your heart. If so, what’s getting in the way of bringing it to life? Is it possible that you’re not living your purpose because this dream hasn’t been realized? What will it take to make it come true? What’s one step that you can take to get back on track?
The only person who must believe the following line is YOU. You ARE GOOD ENOUGH to make your dreams come true. All you have to do is decide that you will.
Big hug,
Vicki
