The bigger your dream, the longer the climb.
And we’re not talking a manicured path fit for the His Royal Highness Prince George of Cambridge.
No, pursuing a dream is a long, ungodly trek fit for a 70s, low-budget sci-fi movie.
Some days the sun so bright and burning that you feel like an egg on a skillet. Others the sleet and wind pelting you so hard you feel like God’s chucking baseballs at your head.
Then when the thorns aren’t cutting you, the snide remarks from friends are. Having a big dream is very offensive to those who are married to comfortable. They will truly want to see you fail so that they can smile at their desk and applaud their wisdom for not chasing their dreams.
Photo by Blunt Criticism – Creative Commons
So many times you’ll want to quit your dream. And rightfully so. You didn’t set out on this journey to die. You’re not a martyr.
But the promise of the view ahead keeps you climbing.
The Point of the Climb
You won’t realize it at the time, but you’re growing strong. Tough. The obstacle that used to stop you at the bottom of the path now an afterthought. You’re learning skills and strategies that make you a better climber. More resilient.
Comfortable is a quicksand. You wouldn’t know how to sit still even if someone drugged you.
Your dream is so close now. You can almost see it. The years of struggle all worth it. You begin to run. And as you turn the last bend, you stop and stare at something that you’re having trouble comprehending.
Road Closed. No Trespassing!
You can’t believe it. The road is boarded up with bricks and wood, barbed wire at the top.
Road Closed.
All that for Road Closed?
You start to cry. How can you not?
When You Want to Give Up on Your Dream
You turn around and begin to walk back home. How can you enter back into the old routine after all this? Will people even recognize you?
What will you tell your family — that you came all that way for a dead-end?
People called you an idiot along the way. Apparently they were right.
Road Closed. Road closed. With every step you repeat these two words in your end like a demotivating mantra.
Road closed. Road closed? Road closed? Road closed! Why is the road closed? How in God’s green earth is the road freaking closed! I didn’t come all this way for Road closed!
I’m not letting that road be closed.
You run back up the hill. You reach the dead-end and you start climbing. You surprise yourself at how quickly you’re scaling this thing. You’re stronger than you realized. All the obstacles you scaled to get here weren’t really obstacles.
The obstacles were preparation for climbing over the dead-ends.
You pull yourself up, barbed wire gashing your hand, but the pain is nothing compared to the view. On top of Road Closed you’ve never been able to see so far in your entire life. You turn around and for the first time you see how far you’ve come. Then your breath really is taken away.
Why We Need “Road Closed”
When I was 25 years old with my first manuscript in the hands of publishers, do you know what scared me the most? That they’d actually say yes. How was I going to help twentysomethings scale walls I didn’t really know how to climb myself?
When finally my debut book 101 Secrets for your Twenties released five years later, I was ready.
You need to stand on the top of Road Closed if you’re going to lead others to do the same.
When you want to give up on your dream, yet you keep climbing – this is the exact moment you’re finally ready for it.
Dead-ends are only dead-ends if you turn around.
Paul:
Just wanted to let you know that reading “101 Secrets” has gotten me thinking seriously about keeping on the path to reach my own dream; as well as a much needed, swift kick in the butt to my stagnant spiritual life. It was also quite hilarious! Thank you so much for writing it!
~ Amanda
Wow. Thank you Amanda for these kind words! Really encouraging for me to hear. I’d be honored if you were willing to share these reflections as an Amazon and/or Goodreads review. Each review plays a HUGE role in the success of the book.
Thanks Amanda for being a part of this Groan Up community.
I’m always intrigued by the related question of “what if the dream ISN’T what you expected?” I chased one dream for years – being a full-time writer – and once I finally had it, I didn’t like it one bit. Not one bit! I then had to redefine the dream (for me, it’s having balance writing AND teaching, which is funny because I’d spent six years trying to get away from teaching at that point). I completely agree that we need to work through “Road Closed” when we know in our gut that we’re going the right way. But also feel free to reconsider the road we’re climbing if our gut says, “huh, there’s something more to be learned here.”
I started to feel this way recently. I watched a few other people doing what I “want to do” and I thought wow how will I ever get to be like that? I can’t compete with them! It kind of felt like maybe this wasn’t my dream anymore, maybe it never was. I wanted to quit but a small victory brought me back to the chase.
Thanks for writing the stuff you do, it’s encouraging and, well, relevant to my life anyways! Haha