Wednesday, May 23, 2012

It's Never to Late to Follow Your Dreams

Hey all,

Did you see this?  A seventy-three year old woman has scaled Mount Everest.  And that's not the only amazing part.  It's the second time she's done it.

You can read more about it HERE, but in a nutshell, Tamae Watanabe reached Everest's 29,035 foot high summit from the northern side of the mountain in Tibet on Saturday morning with four other team members.  She broke her own world record that she made a decade ago.

To me, this is amazing.  And fills me with hope.  If this woman, an octogenarian no less, can follow her dreams and scale a mountain, just think what can the rest of us do?

I've followed my dreams for years, and sometimes it's not easy.  Sometimes you have to choose between dreams, and that can be even more difficult.  For example, one of my dreams has always been to travel the world.  But another dream I've had is to have my own home, built with my own hands and decorated with memories.

When Jonathon was offered the job with Cirque du Soleil, we had to choose between those two dreams.  It wasn't too hard of a choice, the idea of traveling with the circus was exciting, and knowing we'd be able to see places we'd never seen before was the cherry on top of the dream.  Eventually we can still have that dream house, so in actuality that dream was just postponed a bit.

We're not sure how long we'll be with the circus--could be one year, could be ten, so finding our home could take a while.  But if a seventy-three year old granny can scale the tallest mountain in the world, I think Jonathon and I can build a house, no matter how old we are.

Dreams are funny things. They give us hope, and more importantly, they can--if given  the chance-- change the world.  T.E. Lawrence said it well...

All men dream, but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds, wake in the day to find that it was vanity: but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act on their dreams with open eyes, to make them possible.

I love this quote, because when I dream, I want those dreams to make a difference.  Whether I write them down in a book for others to enjoy or live them out in my own life, dreaming is such a part of me, I can't imagine a life without dreams in it.

I pity those who don't dream, and even more, I hurt for those who don't believe in them.  Dreams are like hope.  When you don't have them, you're empty.  This is one of my favorite bible verses...

Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life (Proverbs 13:12).

And I believe, if you insert the word dream in certain places in this sentence, you'll see why.

Dreams deferred makes the heart sick, but a dream fulfilled is a tree of life.

So share with us.  Do you have any dreams you won't let go of?  That no matter what happens, you keep on holding them close, knowing that sometime, somehow, you will make them come true.  Then I applaud you.  

Because as you know, following your dreams to happiness is one thing I believe in 100%.
 

Until Friday all,

CJ England
 http://www.cjengland.com/home/domeafavor100x154.jpg
Follow Your Dreams
http://cjengland.com
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CJsaysFollowYourDreams/

6 comments:

Phylis said...

I always wanted to have a lot of land, near the mountains and take in retired racehorses. I would have lots of trails, etc. Some of the horses would be trail horses some would just be retired. Of course that is a dream that would take a lot of money. The other day I added to it by making 4 wheel trails and renting out ATV's. It would have to be a HUGE place. lol Now my other dreams, such as having my children graduate high school have come true. Now my dream for them is to graduate college and be successful in what they want to do.

Ray said...

My dream is to Learn to sail and go back to sea and sail around the world. I have been around the world, but that was by ship and airplane. I would like to start with places I haven't been to like Australia and the east coast of South America. I haven't been north of Brazil on that side even though I went down the entire west coast in 1983. Then I would like to try for Australia

I would have to have all the best navigation equipment and communications for weather, news of piracy and other precautions. When I was working we got security information on a daily basis.

Your building your house is a wonderful dream. My dad dug a three foot deep trench over 100 yards in length to bury water pipes for my mom's mom when he was 75, two years older than that mountain climber. I helped a little. I think I got about ten feet before I had enough.

Speak of mountain climbing. On the cover of one of my church's magazines was a picture of a member from California who did rock climbing into her nineties. The picture had her rappeling from an overhang. Her secret was daily exercise and a vegetarian diet.

CJ England said...

Phylis,

That sounds like a lovely dream. Retired racehorses were used at a camp I worked at as mounts for autistic and developmentally disabled kids. They weren't as high strung as I expected them to be.

The kids loved them. And speaking of kids, congrats on having your dream come true about your babies graduating. That's wonderful!

CJ England said...

I'd love to sail the world as well, Ray. Jonathon and I have often talked of getting a boat. One we could live on.

But I want my house in the mountains too. LOL I guess I'll need that first million after all.

Uld said...

My dream is to be a well-known journalist within the next five years.

I shall write everyday in order to achieve that dream.

I shall work on my piece until it is good enough to be published.

CJ England said...

Good luck, Uld. Keep on working hard and you will be a success!