We get the final say when deciding whether a dream is worth chasing or not

​A lot of dreams don't come true NOT because they aren't achievable, but because we let someone else convince us they aren't.

We were at a pre-marathon breakfast Friday morning. My friend Rosalyn, who was chasing a Boston Marathon qualifying time the next morning, said this: "It's like a test. I've studied for it, so it would be stupid for me to not show up after doing all the studying."

Now, I had some fun with that comment. I suggested that she was calling ME stupid because I was actually showing up for the test WITHOUT studying. I might still be having fun at her expense for that pre-race attack on my (lack of) training plan.... 😄 🤷‍♂️

But while I'm twisting her words, here's another way I can twist them. She decided a long time ago this was a dream worth chasing. She believed in herself enough to put the work in to achieve it. No way was she letting anyone say or do anything that would stop her from showing up to chase it down.

She did chase it down. She ran the Richmond Marathon in 3:20 - 15 minutes faster than the qualifying time; 10 minutes faster than she'd ever run a marathon.

Several hours later, my friend Tiffany finished her marathon too. Her dream was to simply finish - to forever be able to call herself a marathoner. She too had studied. She too had many opportunities for life and the people around her to convince her it wasn't possible.

But today, she is forever a marathoner.

Rosalyn and Tiffany obviously ran their races chasing two different dreams. But they had one very important thing in common. They both created their dreams, so they both kept control over who got the last word when it came to deciding whether it was worth chasing those dreams or not.

Too often, we have a dream. Then comes criticism or doubt or a lack of support or a whole host of outside and inside voices that don't sound like cheerleaders. And suddenly, we are handing the dream we hatched over to someone else to kill.

Well I am here to tell you today, if you have a dream, keep it. Own the daggone thing. It's yours. If you have a dream, YOU decide whether it's worth chasing or not. And if it is, study for it and show up.

And if it doesn't come true, well at least it's about your truth and not someone else's lie.

I know a lot of dreams were born this weekend while watching all of my friends bring dreams alive. My hope is that the people who gave birth to those dreams will be the people who keep ownership of those dreams.

I hope those people will study for them and then be wise enough to show up for the test. And who knows, maybe the dream they decided was worth chasing will be the dream they see come true.

Dreams come true when we decide they are worth chasing, not when someone else convinces us they aren't.