A precarious balance

Everyone has dreams, don't they? And in one way or another, everyone is trying to make his or her own dreams come true. That kid practicing his three-pointer in a street court, for instance: he's probably dreaming of growing up to make a game-winning shot in the NBA. Or that college student slaving away at a lit critique paper, she's probably hoping to see her name next to her debut novel in a bestseller list someday. Whatever it is, everyone has a dream. And everyone somehow works to make it come to life. 

And yet... how to make that happen? Where do people go to make their dreams come true?

I mean, a success story usually consists of overcoming the odds, seizing the opportunity, taking the risks. But what most people don't see right away--and what I, in my post-graduate bum life of the past couple months, am beginning to realize--is that a success story is just that: a story. Which means it skips over the parts that aren't particularly juicy; it condenses into a brief line or two the seemingly endless period of not-worth-telling that comes before an opportunity arises and is seized. 

I remember part of a quote by Alicia Keys, where she said something about people not realizing that her "overnight success was seven years in the making." Girl waited a long-ass time before winning any Grammys. And even when those seven years are recognized in the Alicia Keys Success Story, the storyteller--E! or People Magazine or whatever--always reduces the hard work and the interminable waiting into picturesque little facts of life. "She started playing the piano at age seven. She then went to the Professional Performing Arts High School..." But what happened in between? What about the moments when Ms. Keys felt confused or bored or lost?

My point is, life is only a story after the fact. While it's happening, life is...well, life. And it doesn't skip over the bad or boring or uncertain parts. Let's face it: life isn't exciting every minute of every day. And a person can't always, incessantly be doing something to make what they want happen. There are periods of dullness, of waiting. I'm coming to see that it's just as important to keep cool and to enjoy the moment as it is to make it happen. Patience is as much a means of dream-making as is action.

Right now, two months after I walked off that stage with my (symbolic) diploma in hand, I'm still learning to be patient. A big part of me is itching to get a job, anything at all, so I can begin proving myself to the real world and showing everyone that I can make it big, too. Especially since I see my contemporaries doing just that. But another part says that blindly running into employment would be equally damaging as not lifting a finger to find work. Older and wiser people than I have told me that success is, on the whole, a precarious balance of action and inaction, hard work and patience...and just a touch of luck and faith.

June's coming. Guess I'll have to wait and see what it has to offer in the way of my dreams.