A Dream Delayed is Not a Dream Denied
2020 has tabled the dreams of many. Fear not as you may be destined to achieve them in the future!
The following excerpt is from Navigating Life’s Journey: Common Sense in Uncommon Times and is never more appropriate than 2020.
What great dream have you delayed by other choices or circumstances beyond your control?
Too often, we fear a dream withheld to us, for one reason or another, will be denied to us for a lifetime. It does not have to be that way.
There are many examples from my personal experience, those who I know, and public figures. I hope you will visualize that sometimes the delay is beneficial for us, and all who we may touch when the dream finally is fulfilled.
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I attended a personal development course required by my company in 2002. The homework assignment for the next class was to write about one lesson I learned from my first job.
That evening, I couldn’t sleep. The many lessons I learned as an eleven-year-old paperboy overcame me. Ideas raced through my mind. I wrote fourteen lessons I learned onto a tablet so I wouldn’t forget them.
Since I was in the process of publicly sharing the experience of losing my son through Surviving Grief by God’s Grace, I filed the piece of paper. Little did I know what would happen to it.
Four years later, time and space crossed paths. I stumbled across the paper while rummaging through my desk. When I reviewed what I had written down, I realized the lessons had been life-altering and positively impacted nearly every facet of my life.
Feeling the need to share my awakening with others, I wrote The Four-Letter Word that Builds Character.
So many people have shared with me their appreciation for the influence of the book on their lives. Those affirmations of my experience and undertaking inspire my efforts, to positively impact others.
I received the gift of the experience and story, but initiative and persistence were required to finish the book. Both characteristics demanded a positive attitude to overcome the foreboding that the time for the dream of telling the story had passed.
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There are many other examples, but I want to share two with you. The first is someone I know personally, and the other is one well-known worldwide by first name only.
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I met Jenine Lori at the 2019 Readers Favorite book award ceremony in Miami, Florida. She won the Bronze Medal for Children’s — Religious Theme books for Surprise, I have 3 Eyes!
As Jenine and I discussed our books and the wonderful event Readers Favorite hosted to celebrate them, she shared her book was the result of a twelve-year-old dream. I was fascinated with her story and impressed as it made my four-year journey with The Four-Letter Word that Builds Character seem puny.
Below is her summary and the tremendous example of perseverance:
“In 2005, I was newly married and thinking of starting a family. I had been a teacher and visual artist but never considered writing. As I waited in the car to pick up my mother-in-law, rhythmical sentences began flooding my mind with powerful messages. I grabbed a notebook and wrote what was came to me filling it in no time. Later, I shared my stories with others who agreed they were destined to be children’s books.
I read the stories to my stepson, who loved their enchantment. Encouraged by the reception of the stories, and after months of research, I submitted my manuscript to several publishing companies and waited. Time past and I heard nothing. Months became years and the birth of a child took precedence in my life. The stories were forgotten.
Ten years later, I was going through a challenging process and began to question things. I felt unfulfilled and desired to live a more fulfilling life with a higher purpose. I wanted to contribute more to others, which would provide me immense joy.
Remembering the stories I had written years before, I relocated the manuscript and cried when I reread it. The stories were as magical as I remembered. I knew my new purpose was to write consciousness-raising awareness books for children!
Inspired to seize the moment, I authored, illustrated, and independently published my first children’s book, Surprise; I have 3 eyes! two years later.
It became a #1 international bestseller, won numerous international book awards and was featured as the #1 book in the U.K. for children with special needs. It continues reaching around the world inspiring uniqueness, creativity, and the belief anything is possible!
The moral my story is: “When we dream, believe in life’s magic, and trust our ability to make our dreams a reality, everything and anything is possible!”
I met so many astonishing people at the event. My appreciation, respect, and admiration for their creativity, dedication, and effort grew exponentially.
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Few had ever heard the name of Daniel Ruettiger, except for Notre Dame football fans, when the movie Rudy burst onto the scene in the fall of 1993. His life-long dream was to play football for Notre Dame, but everyone and everything told him he would never fulfill his dream. He was too small, too slow, and an average student.
If he listened to the voices, few beyond his family and friends would know of him and receive inspiration from his incredible journey and accomplishment. It is a true story that is stranger than fiction.
Now recognizable throughout the world by his nickname, Rudy, he shares his story of persistence, patience, grit, determination, intrepidness, and never quit attitude as a public speaker to inspire others, to relentlessly pursue their dreams. The road he successfully navigated to reach this point is beyond belief.
Dyslexia impaired his formal studies, and he joined the United States Navy upon his high school graduation. After a two-year hitch, he spent the next two years working in an industrial plant. When others would discard their dream, Rudy maintained his despite others calling him foolish to do so.
Since he didn’t qualify academically for Notre Dame, he first entered Holy Cross College to prove he could complete college-level academic work and raise his grades. After two years and three rejections, he gained acceptance to his beloved Notre Dame.
Six years removed from high school, Rudy was finally a student at Notre Dame and earnestly began his pursuit as a walk-on football player. Overcoming financial challenges by working on campus, and his small stature with dogged determination, he finally rewarded to play, for the last game in 1975.
History records his twenty-seven seconds of playtime, including sacking the opposing quarterback, created such excitement, he rode off of the field on the shoulders of his teammates.
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We will never achieve all of our dreams, but that realization is no reason not to pursue your dreams until their achievement, or we leave this earth. Even if we don’t achieve a dream, it is almost a certainty that we will accomplish more than if we never pursued the goal at all.
Two quotes I find encouraging are:
“Don’t quit until every base is uphill.” — Babe Ruth
“It is better to aim at the sky and strike an eagle than to aim at the eagle and strike a rock.” — Native American proverb
What great dream do you hold deep inside your soul? Is it one you have regarded in the past tense because you have relegated it as unachievable? How will your mood and actions change if you acknowledge until your life is over you still may achieve it? What can you do today to rekindle it and keep its embers burning until the day you can celebrate its achievement?
My desire is each of you experience the awakening of your dreams, and your life’s journey is more fruitful in their pursuit.
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Richard V. Battle is a speaker, author of seven books, and business consultant. This excerpt is from Navigating Life’s Journey: Common Sense in Uncommon Times published in November, 2020. Visit him online at www.richardbattle.com
© 2020 — Richard V. Battle
