Chasing Freedom

Living the Dream

By March 7, 2012December 6th, 20142 Comments

1-Running Free-001The day I realized that I wouldn’t be able to maintain the way I was living without dying was the day I quit dreaming and started living.

For years I created an image of what I believed was true happiness–my ultimate dream. It consisted of the one thing I felt I could control: my weight. (When you’re a teenager, there’s not much you can control.)

At one point in time, I thought weighing a certain amount or fitting into a certain sized pair of jeans was a dream I must achieve. I daydreamed about the glittering life I would lead if I had the confidence to hold my head up without hiding behind a fake facade. Honestly, it all looked amazing in my head, but somehow I knew it was a dream–not a goal. True goals are always achievable; dreams aren’t.

Life is all about learning how to live out our dreams realistically. Realizing that some of our dreams might not ever come to fruition can be a big step for us. It can help us to grow up and see our lives for what they truly are. It can also be, however, something that depresses us to the point of wanting to stop living altogether. Some people say we should never stop chasing our dreams because only they will make us truly happy. Others say that we should learn how to deal with our lives the way they are, live in the moment, and cherish what we’ve got. No wonder we feel like we’re in a game of tug-of-war. We hear mixed messages every day! One of the hardest parts of life is realizing that this paradox–living in the moment vs. searching for our dreams–will perplex us until the day we die. The good news is that it doesn’t have to control us.

These two ideas have to coexist for us to truly thrive in the way God wants us to.

Living our dreams realistically starts with setting small goals. When I began doing this, I started finding God in everything and happiness in the smallest of things. Plus, I started to see that setting goals and reaching them was me actually living the dream. That inner peace that comes along with accomplishment and knowing that you’re doing something to better yourself was all I needed to give myself the confidence to get on the right track. It turns out that it really wasn’t the number on my dress tag, the amount of calories I had eaten that day, or the number that popped up on the scale. It was me doing something. It was me being the best I could be. It was me seeing that I could be successful without focusing on my appearance or weight. It was me finding that I’m worth a whole lot more than words out of someone else’s mouth. You’ll be surprised how your self-confidence will skyrocket when you adopt this mentality!

Too often, we see past these daily victories. We refuse to see the beauty in the up’s and down’s of life and tend to focus only on an outcome we believe will make us happy. We all can admit to this. But living the dream is just that…living. There has to be a perfect, healthy balance between accepting what we have been given and what we can actually get. Until then, we’re searching for lost hope.

It’s okay to have dreams; they simply need a little dose of reality to make them truly come alive.

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