Dare to Dream

One of the greatest lessons I learned came to me as I reflected one day on how I got started writing. I realized that my dream to become a writer and author almost never came true. I gave up on it once before I even tried to make it a reality.

This is how so many dreams die. We never give them a chance. We think that they will never possibly work out, so we shut them down immediately. The fear of failure is too great for us to give life to our dreams.  I finally faced this fear and started writing, as you can see. Now I wonder why I let the fear hold me back for so long. I wish I could go back in time and tell my past self to just do it. Just give your writing dream a chance. I may have achieved so much more by now, though I am certainly glad I finally looked fear in the face and started writing.

And since I have started pursuing this dream, I have almost given it up many times. It is easy to contemplate quitting because of this daily struggle. Writing is one of the hardest passions to pursue because writers feel like failures all the time. We fail every day. Most of what we write is nonsense at the beginning and only becomes readable when refined. Though I would love to say that I just sit down and awesomely crafted words just flow from my fingers, that would be a total lie. But that does not mean my writing will never be great. It takes so much effort that we tend to lose steam along the way. And we forget that our self-defeating thoughts are the only things blocking our path.

Dreams are never easy to achieve. That’s why they are called dreams. Remember that if you continue to work at anything, you will get better. And eventually you will achieve those dreams. Write and continue to write until you make it. I tell myself this every day when I am about ready to throw in the towel.

I tell myself to keep going, keep going until that end result is within reach, and do not stop until you get there. Work and learn and celebrate small victories until you become that author you always wanted to be. And remember to dare to pursue that dream in the first place.