In a land far far away……

On a recent weekend away to the beautiful Noosa on the Sunshine Coast, my husband and I took a moment to reflect over the last 20 years of our marriage.  We were there to celebrate our 20 year anniversary.

Although we have only been living in Australia for the past 5 years it has always been a part of our life and history as a couple.  In fact 20 years ago we stayed in a beach front apartment on Sunrise Beach in Noosa overlooking the magnificant ocean views.  We were both in our early 20’s, recently married, had no family,  no commitments and had so much of our life still to live.

 

We would sit on the balcony overlooking the ocean and dream about one day making Australia our home.

 

It was that view that had convinced us that this is where our future lies.  We looked out onto the vast ocean before us and knew that our home in England was a million miles from where we were sitting, it was way off in the distance and we would have to cross a vast ocean to make that dream a reality.

But we were determined that one day,  someday, Australia would be home.

Fast forward 20 years to last weekend and we stood at that same beach looking at the balcony we had sat on all those years ago and dreamed a reality that we are now living.  We are now living in the dream we longed for back then.

 

It has taken 15 years for that dream to become real and a dream we’ve had to fight hard to keep alive.

 

There were many years, where this dream was dormant because everyday life got in the way.  As responsibilities began to come and we became parents,  we owned our own home and we ran both a business and a charity.

We had people depending on us for their livelihoods and we were surrounded by family and support.

We had invested heavily into our life there and into life long friendships.  It would seem crazy to give all that up for a decision that was made years ago when we were young, on holiday and just looking at an ocean.  There was so much to loose on a whim.

 

Life so often gets in the way of our dreams and numbs our desires for more.  We get scared of giving up the good for the great. So we accept what we have and learn to be happy with it.

 

There was this constant voice, however, niggling in my mind that never left me.  “Remember your dream of Australia,  don’t get too comfortable,  everything you love today you’ll be giving up tomorrow”.

I have often wondered why did it take so long for us to make this happen?

There were many moments where I doubted we had what it takes to do this.  I gave up hope a number of times where I had to try my best to forget the dream so I wouldn’t be disappointed when it didn’t happen.

The application process was very daunting but we didn’t even attempt to apply for over a decade.  My fear of being disappointed stopped us from trying.

Fulfilling a dream doesn’t just happen, it takes effort to pursue it.  How could we get permission to live our dream unless we apply.  The application process is extensive,  it is quite complex and time consuming.

 

The greatest struggle in all the journey was keeping the dream alive.

 

We had to purposely keep reminding ourselves what the future held.

It was only when we finally committed wholeheartedly to it and decided that now is the time, no turning back, that we finally made progress.

We decided to ignore all the reasons not to go like Family commitments, the advice of well meaning critics, responsibilities,  fear, obligations to others, resources and many more and decided that we would take the plunge and risk our comfortable life for a future we believed in.  We gave up what was good to gain the great.

So don’t settle for second best and learn to live with mediocrity.  Be passionate about pursuing what you want.

 

You can turn every roadblock into a speed-bump if just keep going.