A few years ago, I had a dream about someone I haven’t met yet. In the dream, he and I shared a look that required no words to convey the depth of our love for each other and our acceptance of the other. We shared a soulful connection that took my breath away, a connection that was so powerful I woke up from the dream feeling so fulfilled and hopeful that this dream could become reality.
In this dream, neither of us needed to act or to pretend to be someone we weren’t. We didn’t have to pretend to be perfect. We didn’t have to act as if we had all the answers. We didn’t have to pretend that we had it all together and didn’t need anyone else.
We were able to just be and to have that “being” be more than enough.
Of course, it often isn’t easy to share this depth with the world. We’ve been hurt, made fun of, probably more than once over the course of our lives. At times, we’ve put our heart on the line and then felt like it was stomped on. We’ve felt misunderstood and uncertain. We’ve felt like our concerns were trivialized, our passions and dreams stepped on by naysayers who didn’t even realize the way their words and doubts were weighing on us. Maybe we were told, “What are the chances?” when we let ourselves dream really big.
At times, we’ve tried and felt rejected. At times, we’ve done everything we knew and still it wasn’t enough, at least for the time being. We’ve invested our time, our money and our emotions but still didn’t always see the results we wanted, especially according to the timeline we had in mind.
We had plans and goals and watched them be seemingly washed away by day-to-day life. We imagined what we’d like our lives to look like at this time and felt deep disappointment when reality and vision didn’t match. We kept the smiles on our faces when, after investing so much and not reaching that dream according to our schedule, we listened as people close to us – and some not so close to us – told us what they felt was “all” we needed to do, like we hadn’t really tried with everything in us to succeed, even when we knew it wasn’t perfect.
We’ve laughed and celebrated. We’ve cried and screamed in anger. We put ourselves out there, with our strengths and where we’re not quite so strong. We’ve tried and tried again. We’ve stepped back and hidden away, and then we’ve taken that giant leap forward again, never content to just settle for less than we know we can be, never content to feel like we didn’t do everything we could to BE everything we could. And we do this all while knowing that while it is our part to do what we can and to put in our efforts, the results are out of our hands. I deeply believe that the results are in the hands of a Higher Power Who has our best interests at heart and Who is coordinating events for our ultimate good. I deeply believe this even in those moments even when I am the one taking the huge steps back, crying tears of frustration and discouragement, feeling tempted to give up.
It can definitely be scary to take our hearts and put them on the line, and I must admit that many of my own walls are still firmly in place.
I also feel like so many of my walls have come down, largely through my writing and a desire to connect with other people. I’ve often described my best articles as being those where I took what was in my heart and soul and just let it flow out into words in a way that I hope others can relate to as well.
Where can YOU take that small step towards breaking through some of those walls today?
What do you stand to lose if you don’t?
And what do you stand to gain if you do?
Elizabeth Spevack is the founder of Heart and Soul Living. Elizabeth specializes in empowering women by helping them refocus on their strengths, dreams and goals instead of letting their anxiety and fear run the show. Her passion is helping women who long to be more realize they are more than enough even when they are not perfect and to help them dream big and take steps towards their unlikeliest of goals. Having lived with anxiety and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder for years, Elizabeth loves to connect deeply with others and help them break down the walls that have been keeping them stuck.