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Real Stories

When You Are Battling Dreams Vs. Reality

“If you can think of a goal you want, and if you can see it unraveling in your mind as you visualize it, the next step is to bring it to life. Speak it into existence, feed it life so it can progress into reality, think of a dream as a person who you are one step closer to becoming, the more you start believing it is not as far as your mind makes it be” – H.C 

As I write this, life is not a massive rock on my shoulder, as it usually seems to be. Mostly because of today, all the things I imagined and worked hard to make reality have happened. 

Dreams can feel like they rarely take the form of reality, but when they do, as J Cole says, “it’s a beautiful thing.” And ever since I heard that song, I envisioned them in front of me. I have sung the song “Apparently” by J Cole at the top of my lungs, feeling every chord hit my chest as if I was on stage performing it with him. His music, his words, mimicking the goals that are so close to me—I can almost taste them. 

Every morning, I play either The Warm-Up or 100.6 on the radio, where God shows me he knows what I am feeling all the time, with every song that is playing. These two hand in hand, building the dream, stirring up the motivation to keep going… 

When I could not any longer. 

The thing is, dreams are a tricky thing. It took me a while to finally grab hold of how they work. You see, anyone can have an idea. Anyone can have a wish. There are millions of people thinking about a billion-dollar idea, but the real question is who’ll make something out of it? Who will get to it first? Dreams and goals we want to achieve become much more complicated when we see them as actions, rather than thoughts. The famous saying, “actions are stronger than words” can just as well be replaced by “dreams becoming a reality are nothing more than actions, being talked about less. 

You must treat dreams like a person that does not want to see you win. In the most non-pessimistic way, you are being placed in a hole nobody wants to see you get out of. At least not faster than they get out. Only then will a goal take the form of water. A dream becomes a kind of unattainable certainty that NEEDS to be rescued. That certainty  is called potential. 

In a year, I have made my goals my allies. They have quickly become my enemies. I have been shaken and stirred from head to toe, from life trying to knock me down. Trying to stay ashore, as deadlines, breakdowns, and heartache strike me in the darkest times amidst school work and labor during this last year. The point is, I am not writing to depict the tiring process of getting to something you wanted to achieve, I am writing to you so you can place a balance on these two things: Dreams and Reality. Two separate words that might not come together so peacefully, if at all even. 

Making things happen is tough. 

No, it’s gut-wrenching. 

But you have to be willing to come undone. Come so undone that you do not understand why you keep failing—why you keep failing at something you work hard for, so you can GO harder. So you can work harder. So you can believe more, so you can learn that once you think you are done, you are only just beginning. I got into my #1 top-choice school, and still…

I am just getting started. 

So let go and work for your dreams. They feel much better than any type of love besides what is in God’s hands for you.

Know that he holds your future, too. If you just let him show you. 

 

Author: Hilda Melissa Coleman
Link to social media: Instagram @taintedsun

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by Hilda Coleman

an activist, poet, and writer for Thought Catalog–known as the-girl-with-sad-eyes-but-good-vibes. she lives on the edge of beauty and in between the chaos of things. she sees being vulnerable as a sign of strength. she believes this is the truth about writers: "we are the brave ones, the ones who take risks in love, and the ones who turn the failed attempts into rich poetry."


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