Finding your feet after life has wrestled you to the ground can be tough. It sometimes feel like a wounded dog crippled by life’s injuries. Yet we get kicked to get back up because the toxic voices, real or imagined, say we are not just trying hard enough. That we are lazy and weak.
Perhaps the exhaustion from continually clawing your way out of disappointment has wearied you, leading you to let your life drift without the energy to grip the oars and steer your journey. Maybe it’s grief, shame, or the experience of being constantly misunderstood or labelled before being truly heard. These are all valid reasons for burying our dreams.
At other times, we find ourselves slipping into survival mode, grasping at straws and uncertain if we will make it to the next phase of life. Now, you may have succumbed to a quiet surrender, feeling a numbness you call peace, but deep down, you know you’ve settled for it.
If the peace you think you have is genuine, you wouldn’t still feel the ache of a dream you once let go of. The persistent thoughts that haunt you, reminding you that you could have done better but didn’t allow yourself a chance, are not a source of shame. Instead, they are a gentle reminder to dream again, even if you start out feeling unsure or clumsy.
I read Mo Abudu’s story the other day about the great businesses she started at a stage most people would call late in life, and it was an inspiring read. But after inspiration, I asked myself, what would I do with this inspiration?
I realised that as long as I have the breath of God in me, I can still achieve things in my bucket list or dream book, only if I begin to work on what truly matters to me now, in order of priority. And I don’t need to start excellently; I just need to start so that I can become excellent.
Age 22, 55, or even 70 is a great place to start. At the end of the day, it is not about impressing the world and being unhappy inside. It is about what truly satisfies your living as a person of purpose and how it makes you whole. So today, let go of what has held you down for so long and made you bury your dreams. Stop internalising the shame. Stop comparing your life with someone else’s timeline or standards.
You’ve grieved enough. It’s time to go out and say yes to another event. Pick that brush up and start painting again. File another application. Do it with wobbling feet, but keep at it. Don’t be scared of failing or winning.
Excellent men and women once struggled through tough times. Don’t let that label scar you for the rest of your life. Give yourself the grace to dream again. Unshackle yourself from these socio-cultural deadlines and distractions. You will never know how much and the impact your resurrected dream could have in your world, how many lives it could change for good, how happy and fulfilled it could make you feel. Until you dare to start again.
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