SerenDestiny® #62: How Do You Get Through the Desert of Your Dream?

“I didn’t think I would play tennis again at one point. I just wanted to make it out of the hospital.” – Wimbledon Champ Serena Williams

From Liz Clarke’s July 8th Washington Post article, “After winning her fifth Wimbledon championship to snap a two-year drought of major titles, Williams clambered up the Centre Court stands to her guest box to share the triumph with the loved ones she said made it possible.

Having missed nearly a year of competition after a series of setbacks that included two foot surgeries and a pulmonary embolism, Williams proved that she is still the most formidable player in women’s tennis.

What’s different is Williams’ appreciation that she could not have done it alone. “Those people in that box were all with me when I went through everything I went through. I just felt I don’t say ‘thank you’ enough.'”

It has been inspiring watching Serena come back from what she thought were career-ending injuries.

The path to our SerenDestiny® is rarely straight.

It’s more of a roller-coaster ride. Ups and downs. Highs and lows.

What keeps us going in those lows?

A team who has our back and front, certainly.

Another necessary ingredient is our ability to continue to SEE ourselves successfully achieving our dream … even when it is not apparent to others.

It is crucial to maintain clarity and conviction that what we’re pursuing is worthwhile … even when we’re stalled and it looks like it may never happen.

It is persevering when we’re in the desert of our dream that provides the impetus to keep moving toward it.

Because forward motion is a non-negotiable.

If you stop. if you give up and abandon your vision … it will not happen.

So, it is up to you to hang on to your belief that what you’re trying to create and accomplish is possible and worthwhile.

If you do, you give it a chance. You are doing your half.

And when you do your half, the universe steps up and does its half.

Soren Kierkegaard said, “Life can only be understood backwards; but must be lived forwards.”

There will always be setbacks along the way to our SerenDestiny. It is the nature of life. And, at the time, those obstacles may seem insurmountable. They may drain our will and cause us to doubt.

It is at that point, that we must transcend our doubts and summon our will to proceed. If we choose to carry on through our doubts and down times, we can re-establish momentum and move closer to realizing our dream.

I can only imagine that Serena was tempted to give up when she was in pain, when she had to go back for surgery, when she lost her mobility.

But Serena wasn’t finished.

She believed she still had greatness in her, she still had championships to win.

So, she re-dedicated herself. She worked hard and re-committed to being and doing her best.

And, as a result of persevering through the desert of her dream, she has reached a blessed, rewarding oasis.

And the beauty of this is; it is not a mirage; it’s a well-earned reality.

How about you?

Are you in the desert of your SerenDestiny® dream?

Could you choose to “pull a Serena?”

Could you re-dedicate yourself?

Your dream is still a possibility … if you choose to keep it a possibility.