Birthday Wishes

Today I am 29.

I only require two things on my birthday--- SOMEONE must sing me Happy Birthday, and I must make a wish and blow out candles. I am not a superstitious (maybe just a little-stitious) person who believes that making wishes will actually make them come true. But there is this intangible, almost magical (whoa do I feel dumb using that word) feeling that I get as I stare at the candles (or candle- it doesn't have to be the number of the age that I am turning!).

I don't know what I will actually wish for tonight when I blow out my candles, but I know this.

For Christmas of 2008 a friend at work gave me a daily calendar of affirmations. You know, those ones where you rip the page off everyday. Most of the affirmations were a little too hokey for me but I dutifully revealed the next page daily.

One of the pages I kept and still have stuck on my cubicle wall. It reads simply, "I have a dream, and I know that I deserve to have this dream come true." In my mind I modify it and say that I have dreams, and I deserve to have them come true. Because really, who has only ONE dream?

My wish is that I would follow this. So often I find myself stuck in the mundane daily cycle of this thing we call life, settling for mediocrity when I know that if maybe I were to actually try, that something would change. If I'm honest, it is also fear that bridles me. I worry that if I actually try, and then fail, that I will look foolish, feel embarassed, and will find myself exactly where I started. But this mindset, I know, will only hold me back, so it's time to shed that skin, and put on my big girl britches (is it weird that I immediately get a visual of oversized, white granny-panties?).

My wish is not just for me, but for all who have a dream that seems out of reach. Life is one chance... one... and then that's it. Now my fear of failure does not trump my fear that one day I will look back and say, "If only...". If I reach the end of my life and I can look back and say, "Well at least I tried..." then I consider it a success.

To think that we could have all we ever wanted but just never took hold of it. It does take a leap of faith, and accomplishing your dreams will probably mean taking a few spills along the way. But dreams aren't supposed to be easy... you ever thought about that? That dreams are supposed to be big, and seemingly unreachable.

Well, f unreachable.

It's time that we got a little dirty, put the work in, and reach our dreams. Sorry, Cinderella, but dreams don't come true by just believing. It takes effort and most of us don't have Fairy Godmothers chilling in our back pockets. Yes, it is a daunting and seemingly insurmountable task, but if your dream is not worth your application and energy, then I am not sure you are dreaming the right dream.

I will not be the fool left standing empty handed... don't let yourself be either.