By Xenia S Estrella
When Walt Disney was planning to build the first Disneyland in Anaheim, California, people think he was crazy because they thought, who would put a huge theme park in the midst of barren land. Unperturbed, Disney stuck out to his plan and vision, and the rest is history.
Hence, his inspiring quote, “All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them”, redounds in the minds and hearts of the dreamers.
The story
One of my family’s friends grew up dirt poor in the Philippine province of Negros. She never pitied herself and knew great things were gonna happen for her and her family if she worked hard enough for it. Long story (a bit) short, Di was able to finish high school, pursued and got a license in midwifery, found her way to Singapore in the early 80’s as a cleaning lady in an international infrastructure company there. She worked her way up to being a supervisor and one of the company’s overseas officers’ relations personnel (when she met my mom). Di seemed to love the work she did, as she shared her dreams of bringing her and her family out of the clutches of poverty. A few years after my mom would frequently be sent by her company to do work in Singapore, we found out that Di resigned and got a job in Saudi Arabia. Not surprising to those of us who knew her, she saved enough in Singapore to manage to bring herself through college in Saudi. She got a nursing degree, worked as a nurse there for, I’ve forgotten how long; she eventually met her future doctor husband there (with whom she had a son), and moved to Ireland where the family now lives. Needless to say, Di is finally untroubled by finances, and she’s uplifted the lives of her family in the Philippines (one of her sisters actually got to study in Ireland, and lives with her today). She has a wonderful son who earns enough now to help take care of her and his dad, and she’s now set to fulfill her next dream of travelling the world more after the pandemic.
The unfortunate reality
People seem to get stuck in wondering, “What if…?”, that they just stay in that state; they keep on dreaming. Di’s story can be very inspiring, but I am sure it is not an uncommon one because I know that determination and hard work are inherent to a lot of people. I am also aware, though, that there are still those of us who dream and get stuck in that position of just imagining, too. They don’t take action on reaching for their dreams because of fear, self-doubt, complacency; God knows how many excuses there can be.
The important truth
It may not be easy to change a person’s ways, but there are always opportunities for progress. We need to bring out the fighter from within, in order to grab the opportunity that we know we need, to propel us towards achieving our dreams.
- Decide to just start. Read up, watch videos, reach out to others; find out what other people have done to be successful, emotionally, financially, intellectually, physically, socially or spiritually. Then, figure out how you can break down what you can do with your own time in order to somehow duplicate, not necessarily to completely imitate, the example/s you got inspiration from. There is power in organization. You have to plan out what you feel you need to do for yourself. Schedule in action steps within your days so you don’t miss out on doing necessary work.
- Have a determined attitude. Don’t be shy to share your dreams with people you trust. It’s a way for you to hold yourself accountable, and a way to get others to support you throughout your journey.
Think of next year. How are you going to feel about not having done anything again, if you don’t push yourself to start doing the work you need to do this year?
Remember that failures will come; just keep on striving. Set deadlines that you will try hard to achieve, but do not give up whenever you fall short. Reset your deadline and just keep on trying if necessary. Persistence pays off!
3. Keep smiling. Dreams may not become reality easily, but just because something is hard doesn’t mean you have to forget about all the beauty that’s happening around you. Learn to appreciate the small things in life; all the effort that you do, whether or not these make a big impact right away.
En fin
Never run out of dreams, but do not allow yourself to just have that. There is, obviously, so much more to life than mere images in the mind.
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