This post is part of a series titled, “A-B-Cs – What It’s Really Like”. Each week a new letter and its word will be revealed. Each word’s explanation will illustrate significant personal meaning, application and ultimately demonstrate, What It’s Really Like…
“Most of us spend a lot of time dreaming of the future, never realizing a little arrives each day.”
We’ve all played out the hero scenario in the driveway, at the gym, or in the office cubicle:
You’re down one with the ball in your hand. The countdown begins…3…step back…2…turn…1…fire…BUZZER…bottom of the cylinder…GAME WINNER.
When I was growing up, I played out this exact same scenario well over 10,000 times shooting hoops in my driveway or at a plastic hoop hanging off of my bedroom door. Multiply that by the countless number of times I fictitiously led a game-winning drive with 2:00 minutes to go in a football game or hit a walk-off homerun with a full-count and two outs in the bottom of the 9th inning. Back in those days dreams were big and confidence was immeasurable. In those pressure packed situations I was undefeated and always the hero.
Earlier this year I hit a milestone birthday. For the life of me, I cannot remember the last time I hit a wastebasket jumper to win the game. Athletics has not been the central focus of my life for some time. After high school, sports quickly evolved into “desk sports” (sports fandom, fantasy leagues and wastebasket hoops). Eventually even these acts become downgraded priorities to other responsibilities. Soon you begin losing track of your dreams and the last time you took a big shot. Did time run out? Did I pass? Did I just stop shooting? Or on the flip-side, did all of my dreams come true?
One difficulty in life is dealing with and realizing when dreams change. An extremely difficult lesson for me to learn as a boyfriend turned newlywed was dealing with changing dreams. Instead of individually striving and stopping at nothing to achieve personal life goals I had to learn how to help lift up my wife to reach hers. I will admit that both of our independent mindsets drove us apart a few times before we were married. What took me so long to realize was that my family was my new team. When we dream together WE WIN. We root for each other. We support each other. We live through each other.
When you fall asleep at night, where do you go? Where does your mind take you? Are you alone or are you with your team? I’m at home, surrounded by my family and friends in a familiar environment. I am free of the burdens of finances, geographical distance and work. My team is smiling and I am happy. When I take a moment to think about how my dreams have changed I do not believe that I have stopped shooting, I am just letting some of my other teammates take a few of the final shots.
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