So there I was horrified. All of my coworkers were just staring at me. My boss decided that I needed to give a presentation to the group. The problem? I was finding out about it at the same time as the rest of my coworkers. I pulled up a half finished slide deck about a related topic and set to trying to sound half way intelligible. We have all been there. Put on the spot. Short notice. Everyone is looking at you. Panic begins to set in. You flub your words. It’s a disaster. If only you had more time you could have done this right!
Not having the time to prepare can derail any project, even our dreams. This month many of us are starting to realize just what kind of commitment it takes to tackle this dream. At first it all seemed so easy. The word counts you set were easily passed. The miles passed on by as you effortlessly ran forwards. Now your imagination seems to be dry. Your body feeling the toll of all of that running. The targets and goals you set for yourself are coming harder and harder now. It seems like everything is on the verge of falling apart.
If there is one thing I have learned on my own journey is that it is ok to re-scope your goals. Sometimes we set goals that are just not sustainable or even realistic. No one is immune to this. Heck, I did it just a few weeks ago. One of my goals this year was to run in Ella’s Race, the local Chick fil A 5k. What I didn’t realize was that it was in March! With the deadline quickly nearing I realized that I had bitten off more than I could chew. I can’t run a mile yet, so what do i do? I keep working on my running and select another race, thats what!
Now this is not an excuse to do less, it is a retooling of your goals. How can you achieve your goals and still stay sane? How can you cross the finish line and still love your dream? How can you achieve your goals and still be able to stand at the end? How can you stay on target? Maybe you need to work on old material for a week and put your word counts on pause. Maybe you just need to write at a different time or with different scenery? Its not always a super complicated thing. Maybe it means mixing in some biking and swimming to give your knees a break from the running. Or perhaps you just need to run a few trails or in a grassy park once in a while?
The path to our dreams is never going to be a simple or easy path. It is going to take us into territory that we didn’t expect no matter how much planning and foresight we have. Every time I sit down to write a new story I find a new experience. Our dreams will always find ways to excite or surprise us. Our dreams are not docile little lambs, they are tigers and we have them by the tail! Sometimes all we can do is hang on!