Travel Thoughts

                                Living The Dream 

    I have seen Africa. I have breathed in African air. I have felt the African sun. Dreams really do come true. 

   So I just spent 17+ hours on an airplane. It was not fun. Before we stoped in Senegal, the plane was absolutely packed. It was extremely cramped and uncomfortable and I was not looking forward to enduring that for 17 hours. Luckily, at our stop the majority of the people got off which left lots of room for those remaining for the next 10 hours. During the last leg of the journey I slept as much as I could (sleeping is my superpower) which helped the time fly by. 

    

    As soon as the sun came up and we were allowed to open the shutters to our windows, I couldn’t help but stare out at the land that I have longed to visit. It was amazing. Everything just felt right. I always knew that one day I would end up in Africa. Today that dream became a reality.

    I was thinking about the phrase “dreams come true” today and about how mine came to be. Dreams coming true can sometimes sound magical and effortless but if you know anything about life, you know that’s not completely accurate. If you read my last blog post, you know that this journey has not been the easiest. I talked briefly about how I struggled with doubt, fear and sadness. I then went on to talk about how it all worked out and how I am actually going to live out my life-long dream. 

    Living out your dream can also be tough and messy. Let me just say, I was not smelling the best after my flight. In my sleep deprived state, I woke up mad a few times because of how uncomfortable I was. It honestly felt like that plane was never going to land. But it did and I stepped out onto African ground. All along, I was living the dream. Even though it was stinky and uncomfortable and boring, it was my dream. 

    I just want to encourage anyone reading this to live your dream! Don’t be discouraged by things that go wrong or are not ideal or cause you to struggle at times. Honestly, I believe that if your dream is worth living, it is going to be tough at some point but I also believe that it will be the greatest thing you could ever do. Just to finally fly through Africa’s sky was so incredible that I forgot about how stinky and uncomfortable I was because I was living the dream. 

    If you don’t have a big scary dream, I challenge you to pray and ask God what crazy thing he wants you to do for Him then go do it. It will most likely be messy and uncomfortable and nerve wracking but there’s no doubt in my mind that it will be worth every second of it. Now go and live the dream!