I’m listening to David Gray’s CD, Foundling, which I picked up at the library tonight at the suggestion of a good friend. Such a contemplative, yet soothing tracklist. Love it. A former student of mine first told me about David Gray in 2006 (I still have the CD she burned for me that year), and so the memories run deep tonight. I like that two of my alums are serving as my David-Gray bookends tonight. Kinda nice.

A lot of my friends recently have believed in making some pretty big changes in their lives. Because of that belief, they have realized their dreams. They did not ask for encouragement, but they received it. They did not tell others they hoped or wished their dreams to come true. They just worked hard, kept their focus, and made it happen.

I find that there’s always so much working against us when attempting to reach a goal. I know I’ve said this before, but I keep going back to that quote from A League Of Their Own, when Geena Davis has just told Tom Hanks that she was leaving baseball because “it just got too hard.” He turns to her and says, “It’s supposed to be hard. If it wasn’t hard, everybody would do it. The hard is what makes it great.”

Such great advice.

I don’t know why it happens, but it’s like boulders are rolled in our path, especially when we begin to gain momentum. Whether it’s losing weight, getting through a tough college course, or just making it through the day, life gets hard.

These obstacles, trials, and tribulations frustrate me; they seem to be tests of my faith, of my belief.

I remember a friend telling me long ago that when things started going really well, certain people who might be threatened or intimidated by your strength or your success will take great strides to derail you. They’re not doing it against you specifically; by bringing you down, they remain “safe” in having to face their own inadequacies or fears.

Whether those obstacles come from friends or other out-of-our-control phenomena, I always feel like something is feeling threatened by my momentum, sometimes  even myself. That’s a powerful force that I have to deal with. That deadly negative inner-speak gets started, and it takes every ounce of willpower to keep focused on that goal.

That’s what my friends have done these past few months. No matter what, they stayed on track.

I’ve decided to enter EMT training this summer, but before I do that, I’ve got to get through a lot of obstacles–weight, physical condition, shifting my responsibilities, etc. And I know that, once I begin to gain that momentum, the real challenges will begin to present themselves and try their best to derail me.

It will happen if I let it. But tonight I got an email from my brother, and he offered some extremely encouraging words to me. I will tap into the lasting power they hold, and I will reread them over and over again when the obstacles get almost too huge to overcome.

These things we carry with us–letters, songs, images–they are our weapons of choice when we battle those demons. If you have a dream, a goal that you are pursuing, don’t underestimate the power of such things; remember, it’s supposed to be hard. The hard is what makes it great.