Ch 3. “I’m Livin’ The Dream!”

Invisible Obstacles

What’s next in this crazy world of dream chasing?
Facing the obstacles that stand between me and my dreams.

If you decided to go ahead and leave your comfort zone, then you’ve already faced Fear. One of the first obstacles after deciding to leave the comfort of your old home is something that you can’t even see, the “obstacle” is to only look forward, don’t look back.

Lot’s wife looked back and she turned into a pillar of salt. She should have kept her eyes on where she was going. If God’s sending you out of one place, you shouldn’t look back or you won’t get to where He’s heading you. This is a tough lesson for me. I keep looking back and it causes no end of heartbreak and takes up way too much energy, energy that could be spent on getting where I want to be.  Now I see what this story of Lot’s wife means, looking back stops me in my tracks. It’s way counterproductive, but so hard to stop. When I notice my mind looking back over the same thoughts and images from the past I’ve left, I just notice them, and stop, and fill my mind with something else, usually an image of where I want to be, or a prayer.  I’m not great at this part of listening to wisdom, but I’m not going to give up the fight. 

Maybe I look back so much because parts of that past seemed so comfortable and good. But if they were all THAT comfortable and good, wouldn’t I still be there? I romanticize the past. It’s easy to do. I look back at the past because as an adventurer, we are always entering a new world of discomfort and mystery and this kind of discomfort hurts! It’s painful emotionally, financially, sometimes even physically.  Yes, there can be a lot of frustration in being an adventurer  and so one looks back and says “Ah, but what about that! Why couldn’t that have just worked out!?”  Because it wasn’t your highest calling, and you know it. You know you can do better. I know I can. Looking back is a bad habit. I’m doing my best to quit it cold turkey.

And man, this is where the courage comes in, to forge ahead through the frustration, through the disappointments of the new adventure of chasing your dream, because like I said, it’s not all roses and lollipops. Freddy Mercury said it best when he sang:

I've taken my bows
And my curtain calls -
You brought me fame and fortune and everything that goes with it.
I thank you all.

But it's been no bed of roses
No pleasure cruise -
I consider it a challenge before the whole human race -
And I ain't gonna lose -

We are the champions - my friends
And we'll keep on fighting - till the end -
We are the champions -
We are the champions
No time for losers
'Cause we are the champions - of the world!!!