Running and the Pursuit of Dreams

Do you dream great things for yourself? Do you dream of running faster, more effortlessly or feeling exhilarated while you run? If you do, GREAT! Dream goals are the very strong visions you have for yourself. Dream goals set the emotional stage for your passion and guide your true values. By acknowledging your dreams you are opening yourself up to vast possibilities of your true potential. Dreams are often private and personal, and they are also very strong. Dreams are the huge positive hopes we hold in our hearts that help us create the sort of life we want to live. The pursuit of dreams is the real path for many people, yet often we ignore our strongest voice out of a fear that we are not worthy, others will think us ridiculous or that it may never come true. Our dreams define the true values by which we want to live our lives. If you dream about completing your first 10k race, you are telling yourself that you value your health and vitality, that you believe you can do something you once thought was impossible.
 
Many people spend their lives only seeing the goals not met, obsessing about what they want or do not yet have, and pinning their hopes on extrinsic desires, such as personal best times, medals and wins. Wait a second: isn’t this what our society likes us to believe about everything? We will be happy when we have the shiny new kitchen, the luxury vehicle, the dream vacation? We are led to believe that the gains of these extrinsic rewards validate our existence, our path, or at the very least, the vast amounts of time and effort we put into our work and training. Our focus on goals can cause our path to become narrow and it creates an obstacle to enabling our day to day positive practices.  Whatever outside rewards we have heaped our hopes upon, we get stuck there, in the messy frustrating anxiety of it all—the fear of not achieving this thing we want so strongly we can taste it-- which leads us to the endless questioning of our abilities and every aspect of our life.
 
By all means set your goals. Goal setting has been proven to create success and a sense of purpose and well being. Working step by step towards something we care about is rewarding and fulfilling. But remember that your goal is just that: something that you are ‘working’ towards. It’s the ‘working’ part that you take to heart, and that each day allows you to validate more of your dream, celebrate another part of life that you value and takes you closer to the person you want to be, the life you want to live.
 
Use your dreams for yourself to guide your goals. Write your dreams down in a journal, on your computer or on your hand. Share your dreams with supporters if you want, but most importantly, own them for yourself. Using your biggest dreams, create goals that fall under that dream umbrella. If your dream is to ‘run a marathon’ then even if you can’t run a marathon this year, you can do things that you value that support your dream. You can set goals to increase your long runs, to run a half marathon this year, join a clinic, or eat well. Focus on what you can do today and decide to do it to the best of your ability right now.
 
Pursue your dreams. This is what will create your greatest experiences, and living each and every one of those moments is the greatest reward!