Finding the Balance

The last 2 blogs lead to today’s topic, Finding the balance between Finding the Dream, Chasing the Dream, and Living the Dream. We all dream, about how life could be different or what it would be like to have this dream or that dream as part of our life?


In the last 2 blogs, I talked about a book I had read and about realizing what you have. Then my thoughts went on to dreams, and searching for and finding those dreams, and maybe about accomplishing those dreams. A few of my follow bloggers commented, and which lead me to the excellent point of finding the balance.


We just need to sit back and realize all that we have. I’m sure we all do this too, from time to time. When we are down in the dumps, so to speak, the only way to make ourselves feel better is to realize all the good that is around us. We need to sometimes stop, and look at all that we have already accomplished. Being a mother, and now a grandmother, it is easier to see all the small day to day accomplishments, from teaching a toddler to say please to teaching my little ones to ride, to watching them excel in the horse arena and then in their sports areas.


Sit quietly and ponder your life and where you are heading. You can do anything you set out to do. Maybe it won’t exactly be what you where thinking when you started your journey. Maybe you won’t end up where you thought you would when you started last year or 5 years ago or 10 years ago. I’m not going any further back than that, because I feel as I get older, my life plans change anyways. Initially, it was raising a family, starting the kids showing horses, getting kids through high school and college, etc. During that time, I took side streets to get a few degrees, worked seasonal full time and part-time jobs, and started a horse business. Well, maybe the horse business wasn’t a side street, it seemed like my life path veered into that industry. Then kids left home, empty nest syndrome hit, now it’s time to dream again.


I don’t know when I stopped dreaming, or even if I ever did stop dreaming. I think that whatever I was doing in life at that time, I dreamt about what I could be doing with what I had or adding something different. Maybe I had found that balance and didn’t even realize it. I just added more to what I was already doing.


Maybe my balance was always trying to do something different with the horses. Maybe my dreams took me there. Maybe the balance will come naturally if your dreams are closer to home and are easily attainable.


Now the dreams seem to be getting larger. I want to be able to do some endurance rides before this body gets any older. Endurance rides take work, and conditioning, and a good horse. It takes time and work. And maybe that is the balance of finding those dreams. If you are willing to work hard, maybe the big dreams are attainable.


You can handle anything that you set your mind and heart to do! Never doubt yourself. I’m sure there are people who are out there that will share their doubts with you, but leave these people behind and find others who will help you with accomplishing your dream. Maybe that is another balance. Surround yourself with positive thoughts and people. God won’t give you anything more than you can handle, but then it’s up to you to do the work. Dreams shouldn’t come easy, otherwise would any of us feel a sense of accomplishment when we have gained something worthwhile?


Balance the dreaming, chasing the dream, and finding the dream. And then, through lots of hard work, accomplish the dream.


What is your big dream. How will you start working towards that dream? What hard work are you willing to do? How long will you take? What steps do you need?


I’m thinking now that working towards the big dream gives us many little dreams that we aren’t even aware that we have been thinking about until we start the big dream. Wow! What a light bulb moment. When we start thinking big, there are many wonderful, little paths along the journey that give us a wonderful sense of accomplishment and fulfillment. Of joy and happiness. Feelings that we may never had if we hadn’t started the big dream. Think of the big dream as life’s way of giving us little times, of big times, of joy and happiness, of many minor and major life accomplishments, and then, much, much more.


Yes, there are hard times along the way. Nothing is always cheery and perfect. There will be sadness and failures. There will be setbacks and hardships. But anything worth working towards is worth the discomforts of pain and weariness. Just don’t give up. I believe that our dream wasn’t planted into our head by God, if it wasn’t planted their for a reason. We just need to nurture it and let it grow.

I feel like I’m on a branch of that path. My dreams were of more competitions and trail rides with Finny, turning him into a wonderful riding partner. Then that dream was shattered by colic. I had a big setback. But somewhere in my brain, the doubts of ever again wanting to do these competitions and even the desire to ride, was slowly being overtaken by the desire to trail ride again.


And the only way to get over Finny was to start dreaming of riding differently. Well, rather, riding somewhere different. Like riding Endurance and eventually Tevis. That’s my big dream. And the dream brings back that balance in my life to ride again.


That balance has started in small steps. Riding a different horse in CTR’s last year. Realizing that I want an Arab to do endurance. Looking, and I must say, I’m looking but not as whole heartedly as I thought I would. But maybe I’ve learned not to jump right in and buy the first horse that I see. I’m definitely interested in finding that Arab that is right for me. I just missed out going to see a young horse (which I’m not thrilled to buy a 4 year old anyways, but if he/she is riding now, then it’s just time in the saddle), but which, can you believe this, sold the night before I called, just hours earlier? But in the meantime, there is a rescue horse that is on my backburner and if I can’t find another horse, maybe it is meant for me to work with this horse, one that needs someone.


The last blog was about not being able to find our dream, but maybe we weren’t dreaming about the right thing. Or, if you don’t think you can attain that dream, then I suggest breaking it into a few smaller dreams, each one leading to the big dream.


I believe now that this is how to balance the dreams of life. Sure we want more, so go ahead and dream. But then the next step to balancing dreaming and finding those dreams is hard work, or even easy work, if it is something that you truly love to do. Many times of perseverance. Don’t give up on your dream.


Keep in mind that, as we are on this path of accomplishing our big dream, the big picture may be many small pictures. And the big dream may turn out to be something totally different than you thought it would be.