Have a Dream

“A dream wont make you something you're not but it will make you everything you are”

Many people have dreams hoping their dreams will make them something that they are not. Now, you can become better at what you are, you can increase your influence, and you can achieve more, but your dreams won’t make you what you are not. Dreams can improve your life, but they can’t help you become someone else. And in the process of trying to be someone else, not only do you fail, but you actually lose sight of your real dreams.

A dream won't make you something you're not, but it will make you everything you are. The book 'Soar with Your Strengths' by Donald Clifton and Paula Nelson opens with a parable. In the parable a duck, a fish, an eagle, an owl, a squirrel and a rabbit decide to become well-rounded animals. They put together a curriculum designed to teach them to run, swim, climb trees, jump and fly. By the end of the parable all the animals have tried to do something they were not created and equipped to do. Together they concluded that the best approach to life would be to have schools and businesses where people are allowed to concentrate on the things they do well. Rabbits would do nothing but run, squirrels would just climb trees, the fish would swim, the birds would fly. The point is that a dream can't always take you where you want to go, but it can always take you where you couldn't go without it.

Millions of talented musicians have dreamed of being signed up by a record company and having a number one hit, but only a few ever realise that dream. Most, however, find fulfilment in playing music. A dream will always benefit the dreamer. Even if the dream does not come true, you are always better off because you at least had a dream. The bonus is when a dream does come true.

“I want to encourage you to have a dream. Your own dream. Get a vision of your future and then decide to enjoy your journey.”

Dreams are like faith in pictures or, as Barbara Cages describes it, a journey: 'The path to a dream is paved with sacrifices and lined with determination. And though it has many stumbling blocks along the way and may go in more than one direction, it is marked with faith, it is travelled by belief and courage, persistence and hard work. It is conquered with a willingness to face challenges and take chances to fail and try again and again. Along the way you may have to confront doubt, setbacks and unfairness. But when the path comes to an end you will find there is no greater joy than making your dream come true.’