A bumpy ride

   

 

  Determination, focus , goals, dreams  the words I keep using on every other blog post, how are they practical?  How can any human being keep track of one lifelong dream when life is just too short and gets even more dynamic? I don’t know how, I don’t even know if it’s necessary to have a dream.  The musician Tim Minchin argues that we shouldn’t waste our lives chasing a lifetime dream but we should just focus on what’s in front of us. I don’t know it that’s okay, but the story of one man seems to have all the answers.

       In 1987 Dr. Ben Carson was expected to separate the Siamese twins, the first operation of its kind so far. One might assume that just because he had ‘gifted hands’ , he had nailed it already. Well, not quite true. Dr. Carson had just lost twins in a miscarriage not so long ago. Feeling hopeless and defenseless he now had to save twins, not his own but of hopeful parents. At this stage most people would question their abilities and just decline the request but not Dr. Carson. Dr. Carson is different (from most of us), he wanted to be the best he could be and it is this surgery that proved his genius.

       In high school I’m pretty sure Dr. Carson had no dream of becoming the best neurosurgeon in the world. He just wanted to be the best he could be. He had good grades, but then adolescence hit and he started slacking; he valued ‘friends’ and fashion than his own future.  Consequently his grades started slacking. This was a wake up call and soon he got back on track. Even though he slacked somewhere he still made it to history.

       Some people can consider having a big dream to be limiting and torturous; we are forced to improvise every second of everyday. There is pressure from all corners to change what we know and what we think we know, in the end it might seem logical to just go with the flow. Perhaps logic isn’t always a good thing; life without a dream is just an uncoordinated set of events.

       Life is made of bumps, potholes and valleys and isn’t always straight as we plan it to be. It’s like driving at night. You don’t see the destination, you only see a few meters illuminated by the flashlights but you have the destination in mind no matter what happens in the way you will get there.

       So Tim Minchin says, "have micro ambitions and achieve them to enjoy life". That's definitely true, life is even more meaningful if these ambitions are born out of a dream.  Have a big dream and that’s enough. Don’t worry about the details on how they will materialize, life will take care of that. Life is a bumpy ride not a smooth road, even though it beats us a couple of times, the secret is keep moving. An amazing life waits ahead.