Bridge The Gap

What dreams do you have for your life?

What do you want to have?

Where do you want to go?

Who do you want to be?

Some of us have silenced our dreams and made them go sit in the corner and be quiet.

Most of us though, we try to listen to our dreams, even if we doubt whether or not they'll actually come true.

The problem is, there's a gap between (1) where we are now, and (2) the dreams we wish to experience, whether it be a new car, a new home, a new career, a family, an amazing relationship, getting a degree, or whatever else our heart desires.

We stand at (1) the shore of our current reality.

We look across a vast and raging river at (2) the shore where our dream has come true.

The wild river water represents the ups and downs of life.

The randomness and chaos.

The unexpected and the undesired.

The bad habits we've developed and the disadvantages we must deal with.

Rivers flow in one direction, and that direction is never to the other shore.

Like the river, random every day life will just sweep us off to the side.

So we have to actually do something if we want to get across the river.

We can't use sheer will power and just swim across in one go, it's too far to the other side and even the best swimmer would be swept a mile downstream before they made it across.

We need a bridge, and we're the only ones that can build it.

Early humans built bridges using stepping stones.

The river to your dream is so wide it might take a hundred stepping stones to get across.

You either give up on the dream that's waiting for you on the other side or...

You walk over to a pile of big heavy stones, pick one up, carry it to the river, arms start shaking, body sweating, until you eventually place it into the river.

Nice work!

One stepping stone down, ninety-nine more to go.

That's enough for today.

Rest up and you'll be stronger tomorrow.

Moving more than one or two stepping stones in a single day will burn you out, so pace yourself.

This is how you bridge the gap between who/where you are now and who/where you want to be.

One day at a time.

I have two bridges that I'm currently building and a third one that I'm gonna start moving stepping stones for in the near future.

I want to be a writer, a photographer, and a filmmaker.

My Writer-Bridge: I have written 2 pages in my journal almost every day for over a year. Additionally, these past 16 days I have written a 500+ word essay (some were over 1,000 words) every day without missing any days, putting them out there for anyone to read or comment on.

The journaling was hard at first, and now these essays are even harder.

Like the stepping stones, they aren't easy to deal with.

I have to wrestle out what I want to say.

I have to delete entire sections because they no longer feel right.

But sometimes, as I'm sweating and carrying this heavy essay to the river, I get a strong, cool wind blowing at my back that refreshes me and gently pushes me forward.

That's the Muse.

She sees me building my bridge and every now and then goes, "Alright let's give the kid a break. Let's make this a little easier for him today."

I still have to do the work, but the more I do it, the stronger and better I get.

The more it flows.

The more I enjoy it.

Similar story with my second bridge, my Photographer-Bridge.

My chosen stepping stone to build this bridge is a daily Instagram carousel that consists of 9 to 15 photos that I took that day.

So I have to actually go outside (I know, shocking), touch grass, notice things that spark my curiosity, snap photos with my phone, choose the 9+ photos to post, figure out what order I want to put them in and, ideally, have the photos somehow connect to or reflect the essay that I write that day.

I haven't started building my third bridge yet, my Filmmaker-Bridge.

I will most likely start out with a daily vlog, just 5 to 10 minutes of filming myself in various locations, talking about whatever the idea/theme/vibe is for that day.

Minimal editing. It'll be a relatively low effort production, but it'll still require some daily effort and dedication.

What dreams do you want to "bridge the gap" to?

What stepping stone can you place today and every day, no matter how small, to start building that bridge?

What's stopping you?