THE DREAM IS FREE, BUT THE STRUGGLE IS SOLD SEPARATELY.

I don’t know who told you that just because you have an exciting dream, a thrilling vision, a breath-taking goal, that the journey there was going to be easy. I see so many people giving up after a while because “it’s not working” or “it’s too hard” when you have to understand this - the grander the size of your vision, the more intimidating the journey might seem. The higher the height of your vision, the deeper the foundations you have to lay. Which means you have to really get your hands bruised and dirty and dig deeper into the ground before you can even build to the “surface“ level and then beyond.

I have always shared my favourite story about the Chinese bamboo tree... the Chinese bamboo tree is one of the tallest growing trees that exist but when it is first planted it only grows about 2 feet for the first 4 or so years of its life span. It’s formative years are spent growing roots that dig really deep into the ground, about 10m deep because it has the potential to reach unusual heights so it requires extremely deep roots to be able to sustain that level of growth. That means for many years when other plants have grown and harvested many times over, it would have barely grown past knee length. It can be very frustrating for any farmer who doesn't know or understand its characteristics. But in its 5th year something almost magical happens - it literally shoots from 2-3 feet tall to over 90 feet in just 5 weeks! It took 4 years to grow only 2 feet but in its 5th year it can grow almost 3 feet per day! It does in a day what it took 4 years to achieve previously! You could literally sit and watch it grow right before your eyes.

And it’s inspiring and uplifting when we read these stories but you have to be able to compare these parallels to your own journey. Are your dreams, your happiness, your ambitions, your goals, worthy enough for you to patiently persevere and stick with them for so long that you will allow the roots the time they require to grow deep enough into the ground to be able to sustain the height of your big dreams. In real life digging deeper into the ground could look like debt, unhappiness, toiling with (seemingly) no results, losses after losses, hearing no after no, being unable to support your children or family like you want to, enduring shame and embarrassment, and it hurts. I know this. But that is the journey - it is through this process that you get to refine your dreams, revise your course, develop crazy faith, perseverance, persistence, endurance, long-suffering. It is in this part of the process that most people give up. Sometimes our action of continuous pursuit doesn't make sense, it only makes Faith! You see many people know how to dream. Some might even know how to follow up, but very few know how to handle adversity and KEEP MOVING FORWARD. Before great success comes, you will surely meet with temporary defeat. When people are overtaken by these feelings, the easiest and perhaps most logical thing to do is to quit. Quitting is exactly what the majority of people do.

We see movies like “The Pursuit of Happyness” and are so inspired by Chris Gardener’s story but if you had to sleep in the toilet of a railway station with your child in order to achieve your dream, would you do it?? And the answer to most people is NO. Because they cannot look beyond their present struggle and still see the future they once dreamt of, but most importantly put into perspective all the beautiful strong roots this struggle is developing within them and the millions who will be inspired by their journey. Steve Jobs said this, “I'm convinced that about half of what separates successful entrepreneurs from the non-successful ones is pure perseverance." And this isn't just true for entrepreneurship, its true about the game of life. Perseverance is the name of the game.

I say all that to say, your dream is possible. Your vision is attainable. It wasn't denied. Whether that dream is a business, a family, a home, a charity, whatever shape or form it looks like for you, it is possible. The excitement that you felt in the beginning when you caught a glimpse of that dream can become a permanent feeling. The ecstasy you felt when you first caught glimpse of that vision was just to let you know what it possible in your future. On the journey to it, though, that initial feeling of excitement fades away because you get boggled down and overwhelmed by the tedious tasks that are necessary to reach that goal. And yes sometimes it makes sense to give up because it is just too hard. In fact if it doesn’t make sense for you to give up now then you’re probably not on the right track. Most times it is the sensible thing to do because who wants to endure so much hardship, but the only thing that keeps you going is your FAITH. Faith in your dream. Faith in your vision. Faith doesn't always make sense, and that's what makes it Faith. Because you are have anchored your hope in something that isn't always tangible, but that doesn't mean it's not there. The fact that you had the dream is evidence that it is yours - but just because it is yours to take doesn’t mean there isn’t a process to get to it. The process, though, isn’t denial that it is no longer yours. It is just preparation. It's what separates the dreamers from the doers.

I’ll finish with one of my favourite Steve Jobs quotes

“You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something—your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever.”

I know not everybody will endure till the end, because not everybody can. That is why so few in life get to really live and enjoy the beauty of their dreams and others just end up with whatever is left behind. You have a choice though - will you pay the price to join the few who do live out their dreams, or is the price just too high for you?