Keep Dreaming
As a self-proclaimed sports fan, there are some famous plays and highlights I will never grow tired of watching. Seeing the famous clip of NC State's Lorenzo Charles dunking that basketball to defeat Houston and the aftermath of Jim Valvano running around will always be timely, though that could be in part because both my have NC State ties (sorry, Houston). With the exception of Stanford fans, just about any college football fan can watch "The Play" and get excited when the announcer shouts "the band is out on the field!" It's been over three decades, yet moments like Lorenzo Charles' dunk, "The Play", or the end of that U.S.-USSR Winter Olympics hockey game are still shown.
For as beautiful as one of those moments can be, there are countless other times where Jim Valvano doesn't run around the court, where the band doesn't get on the field, or where a miracle doesn't happen. We get our hopes up for a storybook ending, only for it all to fall short in the end. While I'm not a fan of the Butler Bulldogs, it is hard for me to watch that replay of Gordon Hayward's half-court heave that nearly won them the National Championship. Butler and Gordon Hayward were a fraction of an inch away from etching themselves in history just like NC State, Lorenzo Charles, and Jim Valvano all those years ago. In Hollywood, that shot goes in. But on that fateful night in Indianapolis, it just missed.
In our lives, when we reach for the sky and fall short or chase after our dreams and goals to what seems like no avail, it can be easy to get discouraged. It can make us feel like we're failures or that we're just not good enough. In some cases, we may give up altogether and resign ourselves to the fact that we'll never be able to find or achieve what we want. Hollywood (and really society as a whole) have this built-up ideal that when we want something badly enough or when we wish upon a star, our dreams will come true and we'll live "Happily Ever After". Although we can reach our dreams and goals, it is much easier said than done - and takes a lot longer than 2 hours.
There are inevitably going to be times in our lives where we pursue something we really want but don't get it. We may even get our hopes up really high for it, only to see them dashed and the end. However, when those times do happen, the worst thing we can do is call ourselves a failure, tell ourselves we're not good enough, or give up. When we adopt that mentality or mindset, we never will reach our dreams. Conversely, we should continue to chase our dreams and goals. That may admittedly mean making slight changes or adjustments, but we should never lose that sense of enthusiasm or optimism about pursuing them. We should always have that hope in our heart that our dreams and goals could one day become realities.
In the musical La La Land, Emma Stone's character signs a song for an acting audition. Her song is a tribute to the "Fools who Dream," to those who put it all on the line and chase after those dreams and desires. That song is especially fitting for Hollywood, a place that is built on people's aspiring dreams and hopes of one day becoming the next Emma Stone (see opening song "Another Day of Sun"). We all have our own dreams and goals of what we want to do or become. Let us not sight of those dreams and goals, whatever they may be.
An important caveat to note here: while we should keep dreaming and not lose our hope and enthusiasm, it is important that we do not put our identity and self-worth in our dreams or goals. It is when our identity is placed in our goals and dreams that we go through a roller coaster of emotions and deem ourselves a failure when we don't reach them. The "highs"are higher, but the "lows" are even lower. And in the wonderful event that we do reach them, we may find ourselves feeling empty because we've accomplished all that we've ever wanted and find it fleeting or decide that it wasn't what we truly wanted. Either way, an identity that's rooted in hopes and dreams will ultimately yield dissatisfaction, not contentment.
When it comes to the relationship between our hopes/dreams and reality, I am reminded by a famous football head and his cool friend, Gerald. In Hey Arnold! The Movie, Gerald mentions to Arnold, an eternal optimist, a cold, hard reality: in life, we don't always win. In another moment in the movie, when Gerald asks Arnold why he's always looking on the bright side, Arnold says to him that someone has to.There is truth to what both Arnold and Gerald said. At one point or another, we don't "win".That said, just because we didn't "win" doesn't mean we have to give up. We can - and should - still have that optimism that we'll reach our dreams, that we will one day find ourselves running around looking for someone to hug. And along the way in our pursuits, we can enjoy the ride and learn a lot about ourselves. Never stop dreaming. It's not over until thefat lady sings band is out on the field.
For as beautiful as one of those moments can be, there are countless other times where Jim Valvano doesn't run around the court, where the band doesn't get on the field, or where a miracle doesn't happen. We get our hopes up for a storybook ending, only for it all to fall short in the end. While I'm not a fan of the Butler Bulldogs, it is hard for me to watch that replay of Gordon Hayward's half-court heave that nearly won them the National Championship. Butler and Gordon Hayward were a fraction of an inch away from etching themselves in history just like NC State, Lorenzo Charles, and Jim Valvano all those years ago. In Hollywood, that shot goes in. But on that fateful night in Indianapolis, it just missed.
In our lives, when we reach for the sky and fall short or chase after our dreams and goals to what seems like no avail, it can be easy to get discouraged. It can make us feel like we're failures or that we're just not good enough. In some cases, we may give up altogether and resign ourselves to the fact that we'll never be able to find or achieve what we want. Hollywood (and really society as a whole) have this built-up ideal that when we want something badly enough or when we wish upon a star, our dreams will come true and we'll live "Happily Ever After". Although we can reach our dreams and goals, it is much easier said than done - and takes a lot longer than 2 hours.
There are inevitably going to be times in our lives where we pursue something we really want but don't get it. We may even get our hopes up really high for it, only to see them dashed and the end. However, when those times do happen, the worst thing we can do is call ourselves a failure, tell ourselves we're not good enough, or give up. When we adopt that mentality or mindset, we never will reach our dreams. Conversely, we should continue to chase our dreams and goals. That may admittedly mean making slight changes or adjustments, but we should never lose that sense of enthusiasm or optimism about pursuing them. We should always have that hope in our heart that our dreams and goals could one day become realities.
In the musical La La Land, Emma Stone's character signs a song for an acting audition. Her song is a tribute to the "Fools who Dream," to those who put it all on the line and chase after those dreams and desires. That song is especially fitting for Hollywood, a place that is built on people's aspiring dreams and hopes of one day becoming the next Emma Stone (see opening song "Another Day of Sun"). We all have our own dreams and goals of what we want to do or become. Let us not sight of those dreams and goals, whatever they may be.
When it comes to the relationship between our hopes/dreams and reality, I am reminded by a famous football head and his cool friend, Gerald. In Hey Arnold! The Movie, Gerald mentions to Arnold, an eternal optimist, a cold, hard reality: in life, we don't always win. In another moment in the movie, when Gerald asks Arnold why he's always looking on the bright side, Arnold says to him that someone has to.There is truth to what both Arnold and Gerald said. At one point or another, we don't "win".That said, just because we didn't "win" doesn't mean we have to give up. We can - and should - still have that optimism that we'll reach our dreams, that we will one day find ourselves running around looking for someone to hug. And along the way in our pursuits, we can enjoy the ride and learn a lot about ourselves. Never stop dreaming. It's not over until the
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