escape from the rat race

 Those famous words spoken by Martin Luther King Jr. on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in August 1963 had far reaching consequences for all of America’s people, both coloured and white. Martin Luther King was a visionary, a brilliant man that never gave up on his dream no-matter what adversities he and his fellow man faced, which included jail time. His intelligence shows in his speech when he said “In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds.” Martin Luther King knew what he wanted and also knew the right way to achieve it!

 I am sure that he could see in his mind a country of eqaulity but I do wonder whether he could see that his actions and leadership would result in the Civil Rights Act being drafted just a year later or whether he could see the Nobel Peace Prize that was awarded to him two years after that speech. Judging from what I have read about his character I think that he would have expected these successes and would not have been surprised by them, excited but not surprised.

 There are so many lessons that we can learn from Martin Luther King and his famous speech. If you are young(ish!) like me and weren’t around or need a reminder of what exactly was in that speech there is a copy here. We all have dreams for our lives, maybe not quite as history making as Luther King’s but just as important none the less.

 That brings me to my first point, never let anything or anyone steal your dream from you. The dreams that you have for your life are personal and nobody has the right to criticize you for having them. Many people will try and it is usually the people that have no satisfaction in their own lives that will find fault with what you are working towards. One way I find useful when dealing with people who criticize what I am doing is to ask myself is that person  going to provide me with what I want out of life? No way!

 There will always be obstacles to overcome and if you keep your eye on the prize these obstacles will be put in their proper place. A small obstacle that I am facing at the moment is that I can only sit at the computer for about half an hour before my back pain becomes un-bearable. Maintaining four websites takes time but I find if I take small naps when the pain is bad I can virtually work around the clock! I realise this pails in comparison to the obstacles other people face in working towards their dream, but I think it shows that if you can be a little bit creative and think outside the box no obstacle will be too big. If you need any more inspiration to go after the dream you have for your life think of the challenges that Martin Luther King faced, he virtually had to change the way that society thought about the black people, to most people this would have seemed insurmountable.

 So how do we become passionate about our dreams instead of just leaving them in the back of our minds and saying “one day I will do that” or my favourite, “when I win the lottery!” I am far from an expert on this subject and I wish I had the answer to this question that would work for everybody, however I can tell you how I went from living day to day with no real purpose to someone that is going to make my dream a reality. Even though I had no idea what my life goal was, it crept up on me and slapped me straight between the eyes!

 While being laid up at home with a back injury it occured to me that my focus was all wrong. Previous to this I had thought that it was my job to be out working my backside off to provide financial stability for my family. My ten year old son changed my thinking in about two seconds flat. He said “Dad, when you had the business you never did anything with us now you do lots of things with us and I love it and I love you dad”. A simple statement with a lot of feeling and it had me close to tears. He had never spoken about his feelings like that before and obviously he felt very strongly about the subject. We also have a 6 year old daughter and a 15 month old son and there is no way I am going to put them through the same situation. My dream, my focus is now on providing financial stability for my family without me having to leave the house so the kids and Belinda will know that I will be here for them at all times.

 I think what your life goal comes down to is what stirs your emotions to a point where there is no turning back. For you it may be a red sports car or the home that you have been dreaming of or spending more of your time with your loved ones or retiring at a young age. Whatever it is, it is worth every ounce of your energy if it stirs your emotions so much that it is a done deal before you even begin. Sure, plans will have to be made and put in place to get you to your goal but if you have the results firmly implanted in your mind, I believe that you are already half way there!

Craig Wilson

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 30th, 2007 at 2:43 am and is filed under Positive Thinking. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.