When I was little my best friend and I were very different. My favorite game was “jungle” in which our plane had crashed in the forest behind her house and we were the only survivors. We would make weapons out of sticks to fight invisible attackers, make forts and pretend fires, and explore the terrain on our perpetual search for civilization.

My best friend, on the other hand, was happiest when we kept our games indoors pretending we were older- dressing up, wearing pink lipstick, brushing our hair in side ponytails complete with scrunchies (to look foxy for our invisible boyfriends), and buying things with our fake credit cards which we’d slid back into our purses slung casually over our shoulders. We’d strut down her wooden floor hallway in shoes we’d teeter in, feeling older and very cool.

She wanted to grow up faster and I couldn’t necessarily disagree. It did seem like big people had the world all figured out. Funny thing about that was, as I got older I realized that it was a lie. Couples that held hands were not always magically in love, and instead of things getting easier life seemed to get more complicated.

If we had gotten her wish to be adults when we were ten years old, we wouldn’t have had the life experience and the maturity to deal with that adult life. It would be like putting a ten year old into high school or a marriage and saying, “Congratulations! You got what you wanted! Peace out.” That clearly would be an awful mistake.

Yet, in our own lives we don’t tend to have patience with our dreams, goals, or aspirations. Of course, I too, want everything I want- yesterday. But, if I got my dream yesterday, would I be prepared for the responsibilities that come along with my dream?  Or would I be that ten-year-old sitting in traffic on the 405 thinking, “What the poop?” Probably still some of the latter.

* * Big dreams take cultivation of us on the inside, so that when we finally “arrive” the time on the journey has prepared us for the RESPONSIBILITY and SUSTAINABILITY of that dream.* *

For better or worse the journey is designed that way so that when we finally hear, “Congratulations. You got what you wanted,” we won’t be thinking, “Oh poop.”

So, allow yourself a big smile today, and know that without question you are exactly where you are meant to be along your path.

With Love,

Z :)