Eleanor Roosevelt is responsible for my favorite
quote. She once said, "The future belongs to those who believe in the
beauty of their dreams."
I got a gorgeous bracelet that had that quote engraved on it for my high school graduation. Sadly, I misplaced it sometime within my first year of college and with my bracelet went my discipline to believe in my dreams. I have big dreams. I always have. I'm not really the typical "American Dream" girl. Not that that's bad, because it certainly has a valuable place. But I don't want to settle into a comfortable life and never accomplish anything more than that.
In Tolkein's book Return of the King, Eowyn says that the thing she fears the most is "a cage." Her deepest fear is "to stay behind bars, until use and old age accept them, and all chance of doing great deeds is gone beyond recall or desire.” I think that what she's talking about in this passage is a certain sense of apathy. A cage becomes comfortable and normal after a time. Although it's never satisfactory, it becomes the norm.
Once you accept the boundaries of your cage, you forget to dream. When you forget to dream, you become less disciplined. I found myself doing this with my dreams of going to Los Angeles. I want to work in the film industry, but I realized I'm not truly doing anything to get there. I've been going through school, yes, and I've been learning so many good things here. However, I haven't saved a penny. I haven't begun to write or be disciplined in honing my skills for when I get to LA. I've become comfortable in where I'm at and have chosen not to see beyond the bars of my cage. I'm not suggesting that my school is a cage or that I don't enjoy it here. I love it. I've grown so much, made so many valuable friendships and learned so many wonderful things. However, I need to remember that I won't always be here. I'll be set free into the world in a year.
When an animal is in captivity for a long time and then is released into the wild, it sometimes refuses to come out of its cage. This is because the cage is all it's known. The cage is the safe place. But the cage is not where it will truly thrive. We're meant to live life to the fullest, to run through forests (metaphorically of course... unless you enjoy running through forests, then go for it!), to leave a mark on the world that won't soon be forgotten. But until we decide to dream beyond where we are right now, to decide how much that dream means to us, and to be dedicated enough to prepare for it, we will live and die in a cage of our own creation.
I got a gorgeous bracelet that had that quote engraved on it for my high school graduation. Sadly, I misplaced it sometime within my first year of college and with my bracelet went my discipline to believe in my dreams. I have big dreams. I always have. I'm not really the typical "American Dream" girl. Not that that's bad, because it certainly has a valuable place. But I don't want to settle into a comfortable life and never accomplish anything more than that.
In Tolkein's book Return of the King, Eowyn says that the thing she fears the most is "a cage." Her deepest fear is "to stay behind bars, until use and old age accept them, and all chance of doing great deeds is gone beyond recall or desire.” I think that what she's talking about in this passage is a certain sense of apathy. A cage becomes comfortable and normal after a time. Although it's never satisfactory, it becomes the norm.
Once you accept the boundaries of your cage, you forget to dream. When you forget to dream, you become less disciplined. I found myself doing this with my dreams of going to Los Angeles. I want to work in the film industry, but I realized I'm not truly doing anything to get there. I've been going through school, yes, and I've been learning so many good things here. However, I haven't saved a penny. I haven't begun to write or be disciplined in honing my skills for when I get to LA. I've become comfortable in where I'm at and have chosen not to see beyond the bars of my cage. I'm not suggesting that my school is a cage or that I don't enjoy it here. I love it. I've grown so much, made so many valuable friendships and learned so many wonderful things. However, I need to remember that I won't always be here. I'll be set free into the world in a year.
When an animal is in captivity for a long time and then is released into the wild, it sometimes refuses to come out of its cage. This is because the cage is all it's known. The cage is the safe place. But the cage is not where it will truly thrive. We're meant to live life to the fullest, to run through forests (metaphorically of course... unless you enjoy running through forests, then go for it!), to leave a mark on the world that won't soon be forgotten. But until we decide to dream beyond where we are right now, to decide how much that dream means to us, and to be dedicated enough to prepare for it, we will live and die in a cage of our own creation.
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