Go, confidently.
It’s graduation season and as my friends’ kids graduate from various levels of education, I am reminded of the speeches given at commencement ceremonies.
Several years ago, I came across this quote from Henry David Thoreau:
“Go, confidently in the direction of your dreams.
Live the life you’ve imagined.”
In recent years, this quote has become my mantra.
It is the quote I recommend the most and one I have used in my Toastmasters Club to create a “signature” or Keynote speech.
It is the speech I can give off the top of my head, with no notes and very little prep time. I don’t usually share my speeches on the blog but was inspired this week to share this one.
Go, confidently.
You need to know, and I mean know to the very depths of your soul, that your dream matters. It matters to you because it’s yours. Your dream, and the actions surrounding the pursuit of that dream, is your purpose. That thing that lights your soul on fire, that you can’t stop thinking about – that is the reason you are here, in this place, in this city, state, country and on this earth. Your dream is your legacy.
Many, many years ago, I came across this quote from Henry David Thoreau:
“Go confidently in the direction of your dreams.
Live the life you’ve imagined.”
This quote has not only inspired, motivated and encouraged me but it has become my mantra.
It’s not easy to pursue a dream – there will be obstacles in the way, people who will not understand or support you and yes, you will even have times that you doubt yourself.
And yet, your dream matters. Your dream is your legacy.
The first word of that quote is GO.
GO is an action verb. The literal definition has the word “movement” in it. Whatever your dream is, you have to GO after it. You have to physically, mentally and spiritually take actionable steps that move you towards achieving your dream.
Your dream matters. Wishing and thinking about it won’t help you achieve it. You have to complete actionable steps.
The second word of that quote is CONFIDENTLY.
The more you go, the more confident you become. Think for a moment about anything you recently tried for the first time – most people have little to no confidence the first time they do anything. The same is true for pursuing a dream. Confidence comes from action. The more confidence you gain, the more actionable steps – maybe even risks – you will take. Sometimes, great risks give great rewards and sometimes not. Do not let failure diminish your confidence. Do not let your increase of confidence make you arrogant. There’s a balance there, you’ll learn it as you go.
There’s a phrase in the first sentence, “in the direction of” .
As you go with confidence, you have to know where you are going. You need to pursue your dream with the ending in mind – knowing the end goal helps you create the map, the actionable steps, to get there. The direction in which you pursue your dream is not a straight highway with high-speed limits. More often, it’s an uphill then downhill journey with stretches of fast highway and stretches of hairpin curves the require you to slow down and really pay attention. Oh, and yes, there will be some storms along the way too.
Some days your journey will be bright and sunny and you’re traveling along the path of your goals with ease and sometimes, there’s dark and stormy seasons where you have to slow down or stop. Regardless of the journey, make sure you are always headed in the right direction. If you get off course, or even lost along the way, correct yourself. Find your way back to the right path, to the direction of your dreams.
The ending phrase of that first sentence is “your dreams.”
This is probably the most important phrase of the entire quote.
YOUR DREAMS. Yours. Not your families’ dreams, not your friends’ dreams, not your acquaintances dreams.
Your dream is yours.
Now, I know, that your family, your friends and acquaintances all have dreams for you. That’s a natural part of human nature – especially from your family. Sometimes, your dream aligns with the ideas of the dreams that others have for you.
Sometimes they do not. That’s ok – just like we are all born as unique individuals, our dreams are the same – they are unique to US and it is our mission, or calling, and our purpose to pursue them.
Remember earlier when I talked about the winding road and the storms that come along in the pursuit of your dream – this is one of them. You deserve to pursue the dream that is yours.
Remember, your dream is the reason you are alive in this time and place. Your dream is your purpose. Your dream is what will bring you the most happiness and joy. Pursuing a dream that someone else told you to because it was their dream for you is not your purpose. Own your dream for yourself.
You will have people who disagree, but you will also find the people who will help and support you along the way.
“Go confidently – in the direction of – your dreams:”
“Live the life you’ve imagined.”
The first phrase of that second sentence – Live the life –
You get ONE life. Just ONE. There’s a quote I think of often that says, “You weren’t born to just pay bills and die”
The closer you move to adulthood, the more work you will do, the more bills you will pay and yes, you are closer to death.
LIVE YOUR LIFE!
Find a job that fulfills your soul.
Keep your bills to a minimum, don’t run up debt.
Debt deters dreams.
Keep reminding yourself of the things you want to do before you die. Maybe you don’t have to go to the extreme of living each day like it’s your last, but since no one knows the day or the hour, you have to keep that in mind.
Don’t let “life” get in the way of pursing your dream. Find that balance of living your best life, pursuing your dream AND tending to the responsibilities of adulthood.
Remember, wishing and hoping aren’t actionable steps.
The final phrase of that quote is “You’ve imagined”.
It’s important here to reiterate that your dream is YOURS. As an adult, you get to imagine the life you want to live and then make that a reality. It probably won’t happen overnight, but it definitely won’t happen if you don’t get after it.
Whatever phase of life you are in now, think ahead and create a one year, five year and maybe even a ten-year plan.
YOU get to imagine what your life will look like one year, five years, even ten years from now and then YOU get to create an actionable plan to make that happen.
It’s YOUR life, YOUR dreams and YOU get to be responsible for all of it! Believe the impossible is possible.
I promise those days, weeks, months and years go by quickly!
If you get off track, it’s never too late to start over.
DREAM BIG! Then GO, confidently –
Melissa’s Page is focused on inspiring, motivating and encouraging you to live your best life, pursue your dreams and travel. Most often, I share life lessons from my own personal experiences in these areas that you can apply to your own life.
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