1 August 2021 – Do it anyway! There’s a great Martina McBride song called “Anyway.” The song focuses on the fact that not everything in life will happen the way you plan, but that doesn’t mean you should stop doing what you want. The chorus sums it up, “God is great, but sometimes life ain’t good. And when I pray, it doesn’t always turn out like I think it should. But I do it anyway; I do it anyway.” It is definitely a reminder I need. We don’t control most things in our lives, but that doesn’t mean we should stop striving towards what we want.

One verse in the song talks about dreaming dreams even if they seem out of reach. How often do we put our dreams into our small world rather than dreaming big? When we are children, we don’t limit ourselves that way. As children, we dream of big things, and we truly believe those dreams are possible. As we get older, we allow other people and our negative experiences to squash our dreams. We go from wanting to be a ninja to wanting to be a ninja for Halloween. We go from dreaming of what we really want to dream of what we think is possible. My slow and steady self-awareness is urging me to dream big dreams again. I’m excited to see what my new dreams will look like because I will dream them anyway.

Another verse talks about how you can love someone with everything, and they can still choose to walk away from what you have to give. This lesson is one that we learn painfully, and if we aren’t careful, we let it dictate how we care about people. Another lesson my self-awareness has taught me is that despite the pain, you should love. This one has been hard for me because my heart is hurt so easily. I don’t have the best track record with friends, so I hold back and try not to get hurt. However, I don’t want to spend my life alone. I want a life full of real deep friendships, and I will spend the rest of my life loving others. Even if someone may bring me pain, I will love them anyway.