Pushing Through

I met with a friend yesterday afternoon. He shared that he is writing a novel — in thirty days! It turns out that there are currently people all around the world doing this same thing. November is “Write a Novel Month.” The goal is to write 50,000 words in thirty days, and my friend is up to 25,000 words.

The thought of writing a novel so quickly seems impossible (especially if you have a job, kids, or a life), but he has all these things, and is still accomplishing his goal. Yes, his novel may need a lot of editing when he’s done. He will probably make many changes before submitting it for publication. Maybe he will never publish it at all. But, he has always wanted to write a novel, and he will be an official novelist in seventeen more days.

He explained that the whole idea of finishing the novel in thirty days is to force you to push through. You don’t have time to doubt or question your decisions. In order to make the deadline you have to keep moving. It helped me realize how important it can be to set deadlines on our goals.

I think we sometimes hold on to our dreams or goals, saving them for when the timing is right. Maybe that’s really fear keeping us holding on. If we never push ourselves to reach a specific goal, then we can never fail. The dream remains safe and flawless in our minds. But we are living now — today. There will never be a ‘perfect’ time and place. By going after the dream now, what’s the worst that can happen?

Perhaps, deep down inside, we know that by going after the dream, reality will alter it. That there is no perfect future in store. That there will always be challenges, pain, and resistance to face. That these are a part of life along with beauty, love, and joy. But I am thankful for the lesson my friend taught me yesterday — push yourself toward your goals and you will be living your life instead of dreaming about it.