This is the question that has driven me.
It all started one day, when a friend of mine from Australia came to town to stay with me for a week while he pursued his life goal and purpose. He was just about to turn 40 years old when he decided to put all of his belongings in storage to pursue his dream of beating a Guinness World Record— running the most marathons in one year. That meant he needed to run 160 marathons in a year’s time. Meaning, he had to run at least three marathons a week on average. Do you know how long a marathon is? It is 26 miles and 385 yards or 42.195 kilometers. He was running this distance at least three times a week!
The real madness is that he would finish his marathon, take a shower, eat, then fly out that evening to his next location. He’d arrive late that night or sometimes in the wee hours of the next morning, get himself to some kind of accommodation, sleep for just a few hours and have to be up by 5 a.m. to get to his next start time which was normally around 6:30 a.m.
Then do it all over again the next day!
For example, this was his crazy schedule when he came to stay with me in the Los Angeles area: He flew a red eye from Tel Aviv to Washington DC, got off the plane and immediately ran a marathon, hopped back on a plane that evening to arrive in Los Angeles, got himself to his accommodations and to sleep around 2 a.m. He arose again at 5 a.m. for a 6:30 start time for the LA Marathon. Upon finishing, he had a snack, took a shower, ate some drunch (dinner + lunch), socialized with me, went to sleep about 11:00 p.m., and woke up again at 5 for another 6:30 a.m. start time! And he continued to do this every day for the entire week!!! He then flew north to Oakland, CA after his last race of the week here and had his big Century Mark run (his 100th marathon) the very next morning! After he conducted interviews with the media about his Century Milestone that afternoon, he got up the next morning and ran again for the next seven days in San Francisco. Crazy!
Crazy Dedication and Determination That Is!!
Needless to say, this goal, this dedication and the spirit behind it, really inspired and motivated me to take action in my own life. I still remember the tears rolling down my cheeks as I stood on the sidelines cheering on my friend, as thousands of others were cheering on their friends or family who were living out their life goal, and celebrating it together at the end. It brought to the forefront the human spirit’s desire to have a dream or set a goal and have the tenacity to make that vision come true. That everything we have around us today, was once only someone’s vision and dream. I thought to myself with tears in my eyes, “Wow, look at all of these dreams and goals being achieved and coming true today! Look at all of the pride, joy and celebration they are all sharing!”
This unstoppable dedication and determination led me to ask this quest-ion: What is my marathon? What do I want to accomplish and achieve before I die? I may not want to run a marathon, but I do have a vision and a dream that would be equivalent to someone else’s marathon. And why am I not living it now? Why aren’t I getting focused on my goal, creating a plan and doing the work to make it happen?
These thoughts brought the remembrance that I once was working towards my marathon, for both my mother and me. At the time, I was more driven to make it come true for her. You see, my mother was a talented artist who loved nature and inspiring, supportive thoughts. She had a dream to blend her art and her passion for nature with inspirational words to create gift cards. But she lacked the confidence in her art to bring it forth. With my passion for spiritual growth, along with my desire to make a difference in the world, I created a project that my mother and I could work on together to display her gift and launch her dream. To launch both of our dreams, which was to create a series of spiritual personal development children’s books filled with my mother’s illustrations.
As we worked on our vision, my mother struggled to be satisfied with her drawings and she would incessantly go back to the drawing board, preventing her from really finishing any of them. I would call her and tell her how much I loved her drawings and encourage her to finish them. I did that continuous-ly, until that fateful day. A day that I will never forget…… a day that changed my life as I knew it — forever.
“Your mother is not doing well,” my father said. “We have an appointment with the doctor in the morning for a CAT scan. If you want to join us, you are welcome.” Fear instantly consumed me. I paced back and forth across my living room all night long, agonizing, “No God, please nooooooooo! Not my mother! Please don’t take my mother. I can’t live without her. I don’t want to live in this world without her!”
That day, the doctor told my mother that she had an inoperable brain tumor that had grown through the cortex and had taken over both sides of her brain, and that she only had three months to live. It was an unfortunate death sentence that came true; she lived just a couple days longer than that three month’s prognosis.
I was inconsolable. My entire family was wrought with pain. My mother was quite the matriarch of the family. She was always so thoughtful and took care of everyone. She was an angel and I loved my mother more than life itself. She was my soul mate, my best friend, my confidant and my one safe place. I was angry at God. I was angry at the world. I blamed so many for my mother’s death and deeply regretted all of the mistakes I had made with her myself. Her dream died that day. A soul’s life purpose and passion never got fulfilled before its passing, simply because my mother didn’t have enough confidence in herself or in her gifts.
I let my dream die with her on that day as well.…… Until now. My book, Heal Your Heart ~ Free Your Mind, is my marathon. You will find it at andysBook.com. When you buy it, you will find out how to get $1,100.00 worth of bonuses from many amazing teachers that you probably already know and love!
With Much Love and Gratitude,
Brandy Faith Weld