Pursuing dreams

My husband is one of the most motivated people I know. Goal-oriented, go-getter, self-starter — call it what you will, but when he sets his mind on something, he doesn’t stop until he achieves it.

While this quality may have made me feel a bit sluggish in the early days of our marriage, I’ve now come to depend on it. I usually need a little more prompting and urging, not only to finish what I start but also sometimes to even begin a process in the first place.

I’m not lazy, I just tend to get bogged down by the time, energy and, well, motivation it takes to see certain things through to the end. Or, I’ll doom myself from the get-go thinking I won’t do a good job. That’s when Matt comes in and gives me the push I need to stop thinking about it and just get cracking.

The “thing” I’m working on these days is writing a book. A full-length novel, to be specific. This is my second one, the first one having been completed before I had my second baby, Sela. With one child, I had a guaranteed two-hour block of time in the afternoons and a couple of free mornings a week when Kate was in school.

Now, any “free” time I get is quickly filled by the myriad things that have to get done around the house, as most people know. Writing this thing requires a massive amount of perseverance, not to mention long, overlapping naptimes from the girls, which isn’t high on their list of priorities these days.

I could go on and on about why I can’t find the time to write, but as Matt has pointed out to me, if I want it bad enough, I will find time to do it. It doesn’t matter how long it takes to do the thing (whatever that thing may be); what matters is perseverance.

I went to an author discussion recently that featured a debut author with eight books under her belt. However, she was just published for the first time with the eighth book. She’s been writing and trying to sell her books for 13 years and has only now tasted success—if success means seeing her book on a bookshelf.

She plugged away all those years, determined she would see her dream come true. I know there are a million caveats to that — just because you want something really bad doesn’t always mean it will happen — but I also know regret will be in full force in my life if I don’t continue to pursue this dream of mine.

Matt wanted to be an Ironman, so he pushed himself as hard as he could and accomplished it. The author I talked to continued writing and tried to sell her work for over a decade, and she finally made it. I might or might not ever see my own book on a shelf in a bookstore, but I can work toward that goal.

A friend posted this on her Facebook page: “Never give up on a dream because of the time it will take to accomplish it. The time will pass anyway.” I’ve thought about that a lot in the last few weeks. Who cares if it takes a long time to accomplish something? Time marches on, and I can spend that time taking steps toward a dream or look back one day and wish I had.

Lauren can be reached at LaurenKDenton@gmail.com.