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The path to my dreams is an obstacle
course littered with barriers and hurdles. Whether an obstacle is a
barrier or hurdle depends on how I treat obstacles in my mind. If I see
barriers, I instantly know that this is as far as I can go. I am at the
end of the road, and it’s time to quit. If I see hurdles, I approach
the same obstacles and jump over them.
If I go to the University of Life and get a Ph.D. in the architecture
and construction of impenetrable barriers, I spend my life discovering
all the reasons why I cannot do what I want to do and be what I want to
be. I develop expertise in how to gracefully surrender my dreams, and I
give excellent lectures on the futility of life. I join the ranks of
the Life Long Disoriented who studied at the same university and have
advanced degrees in failure, quitting, and broken dreams.
If I see hurdles rather than barriers, I enroll in different courses in
the University of Life. I become an expert at jumping hurdles. I take
courses in tunneling under them and specialize in their demolition.
Hurdles have nothing to do with limitations. They are merely the
challenges I face as I move from one adventure to the next.
Copyright © 2013
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In the grand scheme of
things, my grand schemes seem fairly insignificant. In a global sense
it's easy to feel as if my life counts for nothing, or at most, counts
for little.
I've had several earnest people tell me in no uncertain terms that I was
wasting my life as I sailed around the world on my yacht, and I can
understand why they felt that way. Those people thought I was on a
prolonged vacation, and they didn't understand that I was making a life
and doing things that were important to me. They couldn't see that I
was giving my children a multicultural experience that made them into
citizens of the world. We didn't just sail around the world, WE
SAILED AROUND THE WORLD AS A FAMILY . In the age of single parent
families we were doing things the old fashioned way - we were a real
deal family unit in which every person on board had responsibilities
that contributed to a safe voyage. My children survived without cell
phones and a dreaded peer group to complicate their lives, and they grew
up to be good citizens of the world who actually cared about other
people - even people from the third world.
During that eleven year voyage, I maintained the yacht, wrote five
books, started three web sites, and paid for my children's college
education. There weren't enough hours in a day to do all the important
things that demanded my attention. Now that I have sailed around the
world, I can finally take a real vacation from all of that work.
A long time ago I learned that what other people
think of me is none of my business, and I focused on doing what was
important to me. Life is an inside job that works best when I start
from the inside and work my way out. When someone tells me that I
shouldn't be doing things that are important to me, and that I'm wasting
my life, they are really saying that my dreams don't count in their
scheme of things. My dreams aren't important, and instead, I should
live dreams that make sense to them. These people are Outside-Inners
because they are taking their outside dreams and trying to cram them
down my throat, and that doesn't work. It's the recipe for anger and
frustration, and is a terrible way to make a life.
In the grand scheme of things, my grand schemes are supremely important
to me and to me alone. I have a choice. I can either live my dreams,
not worrying about what other people think, or I can forget my dreams,
and let them wither. If I do that, my spirit will wither as well. Joy
will no longer spring up in my heart, and each step I take will echo the
dull thud of dread I feel in my heart that results from not living my
dreams.
The handwriting is on the wall, and the message is clear. There is
simply nothing more important than living my dreams. Even if I don't
rock the world, I can still rock my world and that's what counts.
Someone much smarter than me said,
"What you do isn't important, but
it's important that you do it." Those words have the ring of truth, and
you can build your life on them. So fire up your dream machine and have
a few grand schemes of your own, because that's why you're here on
planet earth. God gave you the capacity to dream, and He gave you a
lifetime to make those dreams come true.
Please excuse me. I must go now because it's time to work on my grand
schemes.
Life is good.
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