Make a Point, Tell a Story

Dreams are wishes, aspirations, hopes and purposes. Dreams are what provide our lives direction. They give us something to do with our days.

When we no longer dream we shrivel up and die. Therefore, dreams are a necessity of life. If we are to live we must dream. Our dreams give us reason to live. They are our fuel.

But many of us let our dreams get buried by the pains of living. They are buried under failures, divorce, bankruptcy, lost jobs, missed opportunities and a host of things that didn't go as we planned.

When things don't go as we planned or dreamed we become discouraged, defeated; and we give up. One thing I learned growing up was to never ever give up. Winners never quit and quitters never win. You never know how things may change. You may outlast your opponent. Things may just go your way. But you'll never know if you give up.

Everything that I was ever really good at started with me not being so good. It's happened so often that now I expect things to evolve and get better. I don't expect to be great at anything straight out of the box. It will come if I put in the time.

When I was in high school I went out for the wrestling team. I was very small. I weighed less than the lowest weight class. So even small guys were bigger than me.

My first year I lost every match I had. It was terrible. I had matches that didn't even last a full minute. They would throw me around like a rag doll. I spent most of my time during the matches on my back looking up at the lights. I would strain with all my might as the pretty cheerleaders pleaded with me to get up.

But the second year I worked harder in practice. I listened to my coaches. And I won half and lost half of my matches. That was a big improvement for me. So, my senior year I worked even harder and I made it to the state championship. I ended up with a wrestling scholarship for college and much more self-confidence.

The important lesson was that of perseverance. I learned to keep at it. To work harder. To not give up on my dreams.

The important thing is to have a dream and to pursue it. Setbacks can talk you out of your dreams. Just know that setbacks are a part of the process. We all grow into our dreams by persevering. Never give up in the pursuit of your dream. Dreams are a part of living.