Toastmaster International
 

Risking the Dream
6:30 - 7:20pm
John Hersey

Have you ever thought about the dreams you have been holding onto but not acting upon? All the dreams you are holding onto but not acting upon. Have you ever really wondered "why?"

I had been director of marketing for my company for nearly two years. It was a good job with plenty of challenge. But, in my heart I knew that it wasn't why I was on this earth. I had known that for nearly ten years. We knew who I was and what I was to do. We had known for nearly a decade that I was destined for something far greater than just a job. This was my dream and I held onto it as tightly as possible, never letting go.

I would layout a plan for "living my dream." I would pursue it first on a part-time basis and then, when it was at that safe point where I could really "go for it", I would leave my job and finally "live my dream."

Does this sound at all familiar? If just this or that happens then I can "live my dreams!"

You would think about it, discuss it with your spouse, significant other or some best friend. You would make the plans, layout the strategy, always waiting for something else to happen before you would "pull the trigger and go for it."

Living our dreams always seems to depend on some necessary, but never present, circumstance. When "it" occurs, "then" we'll go for it. Unfortunately, "it" never occurs and we are left with just the dream, if we are lucky. You see, for most of us, the dream fades. Sure it is still there. But as life goes by, we think about it less often. We become more reasonable in our expectations, convincing ourselves that "it wasn't meant to be." We settle. Settle for what our lives are at the moment. Settle for what they have been. Never allowing ourselves the joy of living the dream.

That could have been me. This time was different, however. One day while my wife Beverly and I were vacationing at one of Arizona’s resorts, she asked a most penetrating question. "John", she said, "you know I support you, you know I believe in your dream just as much as you. Then, what is holding you back?"

Maybe she had asked the question before, perhaps in the very same way. Maybe I heard the question for the first time or perhaps I just heard the question differently. I'm not sure which. What I do know is that in the flickering of an eye I understood the answer.

"What is holding you back?" She asked again.

In the flickering of an eye, my explanation went beyond fear of success or fear of failure. In one little flash of enlightenment, I knew what was holding me back. It was fear of "risking the dream."

If I went for it and failed I not only risked failure, but loosing the dream as well. And, that was more than I could stand.

Wayne Dyer, the great author and teacher, makes a distinction between believing and knowing. When we go swimming or riding a bike, we don't just believe that we can swim or ride a bike. We know that we can. Failing to try makes us stagnant, still and small

So, my message to you is this:

Live your life to the fullest.

Work like the money doesn't matter.

Love like you have never been hurt.

Dance like nobody is watching and,

Whatever you dream, "RISK IT".