dreams

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Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. openly talked about his dreams for a more just and equal society and fifty-five years after his most famous speech, his dream in many ways have come true and are still a major work in progress. His dream became his entire life’s work and no matter what was placed in his way, how tired he became, how hopeless the journey seemed he found a way to overcome it. He would sacrifice time spent with his family, his freedom and his safety that lead to his murder all in his quest for equality of the African-American. He forshawed his untimely death just weeks before and even in that, he still fought on. Even in his death his dream lives on as people continue to keep fighting to see it become a reality.

you can kill the dreamer but not the dream.

-unknown

How many of us are willing to sacrifice for our dreams? When it becomes hard, when it looks bleak, when it takes more out of you than it’s willing to give, when family and friends turn their back, when all hope looks lost are you still willing to sacrifice for them or are you going to give up? See that’s the thing about dreams, they want to know what you are willing to sacrifice to see them come true. They want to see what lengths you are willing to go to reach them. What obstacles are you willing to jump through to see them become a reality. Hell have you even taken the first step?? Seriously, have you? When asking why your dream haven’t come true you better be prepared for your dreams to ask you what have you done to chase them.

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dreams don’t chase you.

-me

Because dreams don’t chase you. They aren’t in the chasing game. You chase them. And they don’t make it easy to get them, you have to be willing to put in work, to lose it all; in some case a few times before they surrender. They want to see what you’re made of because they know once you get them to surrender, the next dream you want to chase is right behind them and they need to be sure you can handle to next set of challenges that will come along with the new dream. I’m a believer in dreams talking to each other and if you can’t make this one dream happen, there is no need for the other to waste their time testing you.

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we honor the dream by doing the work.

-Cleo Wade

Besides all the sacrifice that comes with trying to catch your dream, you have to be willing to put in the work. That means the daily, weekly, monthly and yearly steps needed that put you one step closer to the dream surrendering. For me its, creating and executing content, networking other creatives, writing, editing, researching, sharing and a whole host of other things that slowly but surely are paying off to making my dreams come true. And please don’t get it twisted, sacrifice is not the same as work and you can’t do one without the other. You can sacrifice a night out with friends to make your dream come true but if you take that time and fuck off on Instagram well… Or you can work your ass off at making your dream work but if you aren’t willing to sacrifice a night out with your friends get get more work done well…

See how they work together?

So let’s all take a cue from Dr. King and not just dream big but sacrifice for that dream and put in the work that comes along with making it a reality.

XOXO,

Shanna

Photos by Sandy Swagger Jones