Today marks the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King's famous "I Have a Dream" speech. I thought about his speech and the dreams that he had for the world - some of which have been realized and some of which have not. I also thought about my own dreams and what I have achieved and what still eludes me.
Here's the thing about dreams - they are rarely handed to you. I used to dream all the time about a different life. A life where I wasn't fat. Where I wasn't tired all the time. Where I didn't hate myself every minute of every day.
But I sat there waiting - waiting for someone else to make my dreams come true. Every night I would go to bed and as I lay there I would promise myself that tomorrow would be different. It's so easy to make promises like that when you don't have to actually DO anything.
The next day I would wake up and it would be the same all over again. It wasn't until I realized that there was no person or thing or event that was going to make my dreams a reality until I began to do the work to make them happen.
So am I living my dreams? Well, I'll tell you, my life is not perfect - not be any means. I still have struggles and pain and days when I'm not happy. But I'll tell you what - I have had more dreams come true then I ever imagined was possible.
But it wasn't gifted to me. Someone recently said to me - who wasn't aware of my history - she only knew me at the size I am now - that it is "So easy for you." I seriously had a moment where I wanted to slap her. Easy? Are you kidding?
If this were easy, everyone would do it. The question for us all is how hard are we willing to work to make our dreams a reality.
The kids haven't gone back to school yet here, but they are all over a lot of the rest of the country. Which means that people are flocking to the weight loss site - people wanting a new life. And then I see the whining and crying that it is "so hard" and they've been at it 1 whole week and have "only" lost 1 pound... Seriously?
Do you want it? How badly? How hard are you willing to work today to make it happen?
Amen again
ReplyDeleteGayle