July 31st, 2021
Reflection on Randy Pausch
Link: Randy Pausch's Last Lecture
I believe that Randy was able to achieve so many of his childhood dreams because he did not accept the brick walls in his life. He only saw them as a way to show his commitment and something that stops other people. Randy also filled his entire life with what he enjoyed, such as painting math equations on his wall. That helped to keep him focused on his goals.
I do believe that dreaming is important. This importance comes from the fact that as we dream we find direction in our lives. It also gives us a way to measure our personal success.
One of my childhood dreams is to write and publish a book. I do truly believe this is a dream that I can accomplish. At this very moment I have written an entire rough draft of a book, but I have not done anything with it since I finished it over half a year ago. I am extremely blessed to have so many resources, be that people or technology, in my life that I could use to finish this goal of mine. The block in my way of this pursuit at this time is myself. I have not made time to take the next steps with my book. All too often I find that I am the one who is stopping me from achieving my dreams. It is not the influence of others so much as me believing that I cannot do it. I love the introduction of "Launching Leaders" by Steven A. Hitz how it talks about how others may have already taken the path before you, but you have not and you need to be the one to open those gates in your life.
Personal Reflections
It is so important to focus on what we personally want to accomplish in life and actively work towards it, while ignoring the desire to "keep up" with other people. That is something I struggle with. I constantly feel the need to do things just because other people are doing it and they say I should as well. That is how I burn myself out as I try to juggle doing all that along with the other things I desire to do myself. Learning to say no is a hard thing to do in life, at least for me. I constantly want to please others, but by doing that I do not let myself create a personality and end up unhappy myself and not living up to other people's standards. The only one I should be accounting to is myself and God. God is unchanging and truly where our foundation should be built. What we like, how we look, and what we do in life constantly change whether we want it to or not. What does not change is our identity as a Child of God and the principles He teaches us to live by. Once we know that, then we can develop our skills and truly create a lasting personality/identity. In which, we will find ourselves and then be able to help build others up.