My Dream Is Not For Sale!

I confess I have a problem - I love opportunity. I love new concepts, new challenges, and problem solving. There is something about a challenge that lures me, like Persephone to the pomegranate seed, coaxing me to have just a small taste and change my focus just enough to forget my existing goals for the adventure of a new one.

And like Persephone I pay a price. I am constantly fighting the desire to know and do more because I know in the wake of all those tempting new tastes lie the remnants of a thousand old goals; once dreamt of, worked for, invested in, now lost to time, unrealised and a source of enduring shame.

What is so hard, is that I rarely notice the moment of transition when my focus jumps from one thing to another. What you cannot see can be very difficult to fight.

And as is the way for me, every so often my real dream, the one that has pursued me since childhood, taps me on the shoulder and says: "Jo, what are you doing about me? You forgot again, didn't you?" And the pit of my stomach grips me, and I realise another year has gone by.

So today I ask you, what is your dream? Is your dream for sale? What minutiae of daily life distracts you?

Yesterday I got my dream back. A year's worth of hobbies, family duties and academic distractions stood aside.
Those who know me, know I love medicine and that my heart is set on helping others through medicine.
Now I am back on track - My dream is NOT for sale!

Calvin Coolidge, 30th President of the United States, said:
“Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan "press on" has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.”

How much persistence do you have? As much as it takes? Will you own your own home? Build an innovative business? Truly help the poor in Nepal? Keep your focus! Don't leave your dream behind! Don't be tempted by that pomegranate seed lest one day the gates from the underworld close forever...

Steve Jobs, famed former CEO of Apple and US industrialist, made this impassioned plea:
"Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of other's opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most importantly, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary."

My dream is not for sale.
My dream is not for sale.
My dream is not for sale.

Yours in Rotary,

President JO BEILBY (2011-2012)