Living The Dream

"Dream big. Work hard. Be nice!"

I put this message on the board every year as a guide for my students, not knowing it would also become a mantra for me. I have been thinking a lot about the depth of what this little phrase actually means. Is it enough to have big dreams? How does one work hard to attain them? And what, exactly, does it mean to be nice? Does it apply to everyone we meet, even if it may seem like they don't deserve our kindness or if being nice seems to get us nowhere? Is it true that "no good deed goes unpunished"?

I am a consummate dreamer. Sometimes my brain fills up with so many ideas I don't know where to put them all. They clutter up my gray matter to the point of becoming clogged, white noise and I must find an outlet for those thoughts, those dreams so that I can think straight again! Writing has been a great outlet for me, as well as an organizer for me to sort those thoughts according to their "do-ability" and prioritize them based on my own wants and needs. And let's be real...some dreams, like owning a stable full of winged horses or moving to a distant planet in space are just not feasible. I can, however, create those experiences in books. In that regard, I am only limited by my imagination! As for other dreams, ones more attainable in the fleshy world, the next step beyond the "thought" is to research what I want and then follow the road to actualizing those dreams.

This is where the "work hard" part comes into play, because any dream that is possible requires dedication and hard work that focuses on the fruition of said goal. Often that path to get "there" is fraught with frustration and obstacles. The truth is, if you really want something, you will find a way to attain it and if you don't, you'll make excuses as to why it's impossible. "I have not failed. I have just found 10,000 ways that won't work."--Thomas Edison

As for being nice...that has less to do with attaining your dreams and more to do with filling up your own soul, your own spirit. It is easy to be kind to those who are kind in return, but it is important to be kind to those who aren't. Often, we don't know what burdens others are carrying, nor how those burdens manifest themselves, frequently projecting negatively onto others. What we ought to know, however, is that EVERYONE experiences burdens and carries their own sorrows, pains, and darkness. Perhaps in this way spreading our kindness to ALL helps shine light on those who are in darkness, and bolsters those who live in the light, making our world, and humanity a more fertile ground for growing dreams!

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