As I speak to you, I am, believe it or not, enjoying a wonderful experience and fulfilling a long desired dream: To play Golf on the links at Augusta National.
“Wow! How did you do that?” some of you may ask yourselves. Golfers will understand what Augusta means to the sport. Is the Mecca for Golfers. The Everest for enthusiasts. Another desire scratched off the Bucket List.
But in case you don’t know what is Augusta, allow me to guide you through what this whole trip represents. Imagine your biggest passion or guilty pleasure becoming a palpable reality. Something you can touch, smell, feel, walk on, taste, remember and store. For shoppers is like Black Friday with an unlimited checkbook. For others, it would be like being able to dance all night without getting tired or sleepy. For some, maybe more conservative, it would represent the climax on their lives, like visiting the Holy Land.
For years I saw the Masters Tournament (which is one of Pro Golf’s Four Major Tournaments) and imagined how it would be to walk on those fairways or to putt on those crazy fast Greens. I would place myself on the couch on a given Sunday afternoon in Spring and tune to watch the last holes played; the “sudden death” playoffs, dreaming badly about how much I wanted to be there.
“I want to be there”.
This was probably some 5 years ago, and here I am today, mingling with the world’s Golf Elite. The idea behind this long introduction is not to show off and brag about attending this world famous tournament, but rather to share with you something that led to this current moment I am living today. As I watched the Television, I noticed something about my reaction to those places I was seeing and that I wanted to visit so much. What was different – at least from other people – is that I never thought I would never be able to come here, for me it was something I wanted to make real.
Let me be a bit clearer. Have you noticed how some people’s reaction is always negative when faced upon likable things? For example, somebody would see a gorgeous purse with an expensive price tag and automatically would say “Oh!I could never pay that!“, therefore cancelling their future chances to buy that purse she likes she much.
In my case this was never the case. When I saw those gorgeous trees surrounding the golf courts, those blue ponds and those fairways, I knew I had to be there. It never occurred to me that I wouldn’t be able to fulfill my dream. I just felt it and decided that this was going to be a reward, a “Prize” I was going to award myself for years of effort and discipline, sacrifices and strategies.
This attitude allowed me to be free to dream, but also to understand that my dreams needed my effort to become illusions, then projects until finally you see them being born in front of your very own eyes.
Dreams are beautiful things to have. They are like Ice Cream. You can walk into an ice cream parlor and choose from dozens of different flavors, and you can also mix those original flavors to create new, unique ones, like you. And this “uniqueness” of our dreams also has to be protected.
Now, how do we protect a dream? Well, as anything precious and valuable, dreams need to be protected once they are conceived, so they can grow strong and possible. Some of the things we need to protect these dreams we are willing to nurture, is from negative thoughts and critic opinions. And usually, those critics are the people nearer to us.
Let me share a story with you, my loyal readers. Many years ago, I had a friend I used to play golf with. He was an Ok player, nothing too spectacular. One day he comes to me and tells me he is leaving everything behind to become a Golf Professional because he realized that was his dream in life. When he asked my opinion, I told him he was insane, straight up. After listening to all my critics and negative advice, he turned to me and said “You know what Andreina? You should be rooting for me, wishing the best for me in this life decision I have taken, but instead you are already betting on my failure. That is not what I expect from a true friend.”
I was frozen, paralyzed by shame and an awful feeling of truth. And then I realized he was right. I was being negative for something that wasn’t even my business, but I wanted to make it my business. Maybe I was jealous because my friend was leaving all and running after his dreams; maybe I was ashamed because I didn’t have that determination on me, in the same way he had it. The fact is that I could never forget that event, even to this day. Years later, my friend fulfilled his dream and although he is no Tiger Woods, he ended up making a very good life in a local Golf Course.
So you see, sometimes sharing our experiences may not be the best of the ideas. People that care for us, will immediately tell us how wrong we are by deciding this or that, and even though it is good to listen to other people’s advice, it is always good to understand that each individual has his or her own set of circumstances, fears and dreams to live.
By protecting our dreams we also protect our attitude to fulfill those dreams, and again, attitude is what will help you go along way when it comes to fulfilling whatever you dream. Even if this means protecting them for the people we care and therefore, would love to share our dreams and illusions, but again, sometimes people (even those close ones) may not understand the scope of our dreams, or may not see them as real as you do.
Dreamers wanted.
Andreina Maneiro.