Hello! First thing I want to say is thank you all so much for being so overwhelmingly supportive of my Great Adventure to the US after I blogged about it on Wednesday. Reading all your comments was so lovely and so touching. I feel like I’ve got a cheer squad behind me! It was good reading in the comments too that I’m not the only one dealing with self-sabotage, and that so many of us are afraid of stepping into the thing we desire the most. We’re a funny bunch, us humans.
I’m a bit reluctant to write today’s post, because it’s extremely personal, and I’ll either a) say too much and regret it or b) (more likely) say not enough to make it make sense, and leave you scratching your head and saying “huh?” Oh well. There’s nothing else on my mind right now, so I’ll give it a try. It’s very, very much related to Wednesday, in fact it’s kind of Exactly The Same Thing.
I have a dream. This one is a small one, a personal one, a little dream so little and sweet that if I told you you’d say “awww, that’s lovely! You should do that.” It’s not hard. I don’t need to buy a ticket for it, and it won’t cost me much at all. It’s not a dream I think about much though because it’s buried so deep inside me that it’s hard to find, and it’s so small that often it gets overlooked. I think we all have dreams like that.
So anyway, on Wednesday after I’d blogged all about stepping into my dream of travel and visiting the US for the first time I had lunch with a friend, my oldest and dearest friend. We bought chicken sandwiches and walked to the park and sat in the sunshine and chatted and laughed and shared the way we’ve been doing for years. The conversation went deep, and then suddenly my friend offered up a truth so sharp that it wedged its way deep into my gut and pushed that tiny dream up and out of my mouth for the first time in years. It made me cry over my chicken sandwich, even if we were in the park and in the sunshine.
And then she said this: “You should do it.”
She’s right. And not only is she right, I’d blogged that very and self-same morning about the rightness of what she said. I Should Do It.
And then I cried some more, because even though that dream is little it’s the most precious and covered over of all dreams. It hasn’t seen the daylight for many, many years, and I was scared that if it did, then…I don’t know. I don’t know why it’s scary stepping into dreams. Perhaps the darkness that covered it is the fear that if it ever happened I would do something to stuff it up.
That’s it. That’s the truth. I would Do Something to Stuff It Up. Except the thing I’m realizing at the moment that that “truth” is a lie.
It’s only taken 20-something years.
It’s not going to cost me anything, to do this. Just a bit of time, and a bucketful of tears that I can well afford.
I’m going to do it.
It’s going to hurt. Chipping away at darkness always does.
It’s worth it.
Megan Sayer 
Well Sheesh now I’m so intrigued and busting at the gut to know what it is….I wish you well in whatever it is…chip chip away at the darkness…maybe a little light will cascade into the spaces and fill up the shadows that were once there
Haha…yeah…nah…give me ten years distance and I’ll tell you ALL about it.
Sorry about that 🙂
No worries …See ya in ten years…:)
Whatever this small, personal dream of your is, you should definitely do it. It’s natural to worry about messing something up, but the regrets we have about the things we’ve done wrong seem less bad to me than the regrets we have about the things we didn’t do at all. Good luck with whatever it is.
You are so right, thanks so much for the encouragement, it really helps!
I love that you were able to express your truth because your friend made you feel safe by expressing hers. Great for both of you. The hardest thing to do is the thing you want the most. It just is. But there is nothing, nothing to fear. We think there is, but there is not, and our time here is so brief.
Dreams are so precious, and they make us so vulnerable, don’t they? You go girl! 🙂
Thanks Amanda, I so appreciate your encouragement.
What a wonderful post, and what thoughtful comments. I love that each of us has a special dream, I’m pursuing my own and it is terrifying. But NOT pursuing it is much more terrifying to me.
Thanks Erica. Yay for pursuing! Keep going girl. You’re so right about not pursuing it is even more terrifying. It’s what makes us keep moving forward. We can encourage each other!
Do it while you can because it will haunt you more later if you let the opportunity go. If it’s a small dream then you’ll do great! clear your soul!
Thanks Liza! You’re right about the haunting. Funny thing is the more I talk about it the more confident I feel about stepping into it. I didn’t expect that when I wrote the post.
It makes it more real when you see it in writing…. Just take a deep breath and go for it! (oh, don’t forget to exhale….Bahahaha)
Go for it, lifes to short. The let us know if it went well. 😉
Thank You!!!! I will, I will!!!
You are an inspiration Megan! Dreams are surely precious, no matter how big or small – my grandfather once told me “there are no small dreams, there are only dreams” – so whatever it is go for it. The light will outshine the darkness. Doesn’t our Father God say “I am the truth and the light” – wherever there is light, He is there too.
Aw, I’m glad I’m an inspiration, thanks! And I love what you say about light outshining the darkness. Everything feels pretty dark right now, but at the same time I’m aware that this is because my eyes are tightly shut and I’m burying my face in God’s armpit. Scary…but safe.
Don’t worry about stuffing it up. Shelter and nurture it like a favorite rose bush… and watch it grow…and bloom!
Marilyn your words are mighty encouraging. Thank you!!!
I think you have the courage and guts. But don’t rush too fast. 🙂
Do it up! I hope it’s wonderful 🙂