If you could meet
the eight year old version of yourself, what would he/she think about you? In the movie The Kid, Bruce Willis plays a
man who gets the opportunity to do just this; meet his eight year old self. It’s a funny little movie, but very poignant
in how we set aside the dreams we have as children when we try to control our
adult lives.
In the movie little
Rusty is running around the house looking for his dog. Big Russ tells him he doesn’t have a dog,
because he’s never around to take care of it.
Rusty sits down in disgust and says, “I don’t have a dog, I’m forty and
not married and I don’t fly jets. I turn
out to be a loser.” Check out the scene:
While it’s a funny
scene from the movie, if you had the opportunity to meet your eight year old self,
what we he/she think of what you have become?
I think for most of us, the realization would be we were losers
too. What I mean by this is, are you
doing even close to what you dreamed about doing as a kid? There may be a few of you who are, but I would
say for the majority of us, this is probably not true.
What were your
hopes and dreams as a kid? Did you want
to grow up to be a fireman, or policeman?
Maybe you wanted to be a race car driver, or a soldier. How many of you sat in your room at night and
dreamed of being in the corporate setting, working at a desk in a cubicle
staring at a computer screen all day or out on the road traveling away from
your family six nights a week? I’m
betting probably not a lot of you did.
Yet isn’t this what
many of us do daily? We live this life
of existence, working away most of our lives, instead of truly living out those
lives we once dreamed about? What if you
could go back and chart a different course for your life, would you do it? What would your life look like now, if you
were afforded this opportunity?
I’m afraid we all
are like little Rusty; at a pivotal point in our lives were told we needed to
just grow up, stop being a kid and grow up.
And this is what we did. We grew
up, became adults and joined this thing called the work force, and began to
make money. And like big Russ, there
became a very hollow place in our heart, unable to dream like we did when we
were eight.
Some of you
probably are saying, “Who cares what I dreamed about when I was a kid? I was a kid, and kids don’t know
anything.” I think sometimes as kids, we
probably knew a whole lot more about what was what, than we do after we “grow
up”. I read once “Don’t ask what the world
needs, ask yourself what makes you come alive and go do that, because what the
world needs are men and women who have come alive.”
It may seem like
there is no way you could ever do what makes you come alive. Maybe like me, you’re mired in debt and financial
responsibilities which make it seem impossible.
I challenge you to take the steps towards this dream you once had,
regardless of the sacrifices you might have to make. Take a baby step towards your goal, and then
another until one day you are doing just what it is you’ve always wanted.
We need to do more
than just exist on this planet, we need to thrive and do what we were meant to
do. I believe God has placed each and
every one of us here for a reason, and truthfully we may have understood what
this was better when we were eight years old than we do at forty. Whatever it was, start making strides to get
back there, and in doing so you will truly come alive and not be a loser.
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