One of the greatest things about the sport of surfing is that you need only three things: your body, a surf-board, and a wave.

~ Naima Green

“Dreams are the answers to questions that we haven’t yet figured out how to ask.”
~ Fox Muldar

I have been at a crossroads the past couple of months. Not sure which direction to take. Actually, quite a few of my friends seem to be in the same position – maybe it’s middle age? It is not a fun place to be – the constant vascillating between two different roads to take. Do you take the road that seems to make the most sense or do you take the road that is more of a risk? Do you see this choice as an opportunity that will never come again or do you see it as just a dream that will never come true? As I have been thinking about this and going round and round I struggle mostly with what other people will think of me if I “pursue the dream”. But, does that really matter?

I read a couple of articles today by Dr. Judith Rich that really spoke to me. In the first one, Impossible to Inevitable: Dare to Dream Big (and 5 Tips to Get You Started!), she says:

What’s the story you tell yourself about why your dream is impossible? You’re too old, too young, don’t have the right education or experience? You don’t have the money, the time? Nobody would support you, you don’t have enough self-discipline? You’re not worthy or deserving? You might fail so why bother? You might succeed and then what?

Or how about the latest primo excuse for not _______ (fill in)? “In this economy……”

I have asked myself all of those questions and more.

Be willing to do whatever it takes. Impossible is only a word. It’s not a fact.

That’s where it needs to go… whatever it takes. Whatever I need to do to make it possible.

I then went to the post that was linked to this:  What Would You Do If You Knew You Couldn’t Fail?

This article had a  couple of videos embedded… one of them being what has become my favorite commercial. I will embed it here as well so you can watch.

There is another one that follows that gives some of the onlookers’ reactions:

Dr. Rich says, “And what about you? What if you knew you could not fall? What dance would you be dancing right now in your life? And what are you waiting for? Maybe you’re waiting for your dance to show up and make itself known. But what if the way it really is, is the dance is already here waiting for you to step up to it? What if you, saying ‘yes’ to the dance of your life, is the very spark that inspires others to take up their dance?…….Dance it, before your wings shrivel up and there’s nothing left to dance for.”

I think it’s time for me to say yes, to take that risk, to dance. I may fail and people may get the chance to say “I told you so”, but I would rather have that than 20 years from now to having to look back and say “What if I had taken the other road?”

This is kind of where I am lately… everything backwards from how it should be, if there even is a “how it should be”.

I wanted a perfect ending. Now I’ve learned, the hard way, that some poems don’t rhyme, and some stories don’t have a clear beginning, middle, and end. Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it, without knowing what’s going to happen next. Delicious Ambiguity.

~ Gilda Radner