Thank you for sharing, it reminds me of when I practiced with the Leukemia Foundation for a half marathon at first it was so hard but by the end I could not believe how more at ease I had become with the longer run. At the time my husband, a long distance runner, was in acceptance of his last year of his life & my niece who had Leukemia was fighting for her life. He passed, she survived. There’s so much more I can say about your note regarding survival & resilience. Gracias.
Thank you so much for sharing! That sounds like an awful experience to go through, but I appreciate your willingness to share. Feel free to write me personally if you want to talk about it more.
It’s amazing how much our attitude affects outcomes. I’m not always very good at remembering that, so this was kind of reminder to myself.
Thank you so much Colin, but it was not awful, it was a gift of living, loving and dying. My husband gifted me wisdom about death and my niece perseverance, hope and faith. I don’t mind sharing it because it’s an aspect of my life I cherish. Running for Leukemia, hospice for my husband and witnessing survival. I’m lucky.
I really relate to the part about the invisible timeline we create in our heads. Sometimes the hardest part isn’t even the challenge itself — it’s realizing that it may take much longer than we imagined.
I’ve had periods in my own life where I thought, surely by now things should look different, and that expectation made the waiting feel heavier than it needed to.
I also really like the idea of keeping a dream small enough to keep it alive. We often hear “go all in,” but sometimes resilience looks much quieter than that. Sometimes it is simply refusing to let something die while life asks you to focus somewhere else first.
Yeah it’s a hard thing to accept! Sometimes we’re our own worst enemy. I know that I put a ton of pressure on myself to meet certain milestones, and the truth is most of those milestones are just random ones in my head.
I can’t take credit for that one but I really appreciated David Hieatt’s approach! I thought… ok if he can keep his dream alive for 16 years, I ought to be able to be more patient with a few things in my own life!
"Keeping your dream small is better than quitting." -- Shoot for the moon and you'll still be among the stars never quite did it for me. Things felt too big to be actually possible. Your quote makes so much more sense to my little heart.
Thanks! Yeah I needed that encouragement too. Sometimes bug dreams are just overwhelming. David Hieatt and his crew really have been encouraging to me in changing my perspective on this.
Yeah I do think it’s good to dream big, but I found David Hieatt’s perspective on this so encouraging! I’m often tempted to quit because things don’t feel big enough yet. It was a good reminder it’s ok to just keep the flame alive sometimes.
So many great examples and lessons here. I ran a marathon and collapsed as soon as I crossed the finished line, ended up in the hospital…but I didn’t quit! I have a lot of inherent grit but when it comes to self belief and emotional strength, things get harder.
Oh man! Glad you ended up ok. That’s good you have that internal resilience. I’ve had more of it at other times in my life. Trying to get more of it back now.
Excellent essay, very true there is nothing like overnight success, it's a result of years of hard work, patience and tenacity that works wonders, thirty years back there was no ready to eat food available, what we ate we cooked from scratch, but the process taught us that even to eat we have to work from procuring ingredients to prepping and finally cooking, patience is the name of the game, never give up,best wishes 😊👍
Shilpa, thanks for sharing! Sounds like you had it a lot tougher than I have. But I think you’re right, we all have to go through something to learn more patience! I know I’m still learning it.
Very uplifting essay and brilliantly written. As someone who has to often remind myself to look for the lessons learnt instead of being bitter and look away. Keep writing and inspiring!
Colin, super interesting read that holds you until the end! Exploring human reactions in extreme situations carries deep potential for storytelling. Thank you! Dreams have no deadline...
"It’s not a matter of wondering whether the trucks will drive away. Just assume they will."
This is really brutal. I have been training for trail running lately. I don't know how such a distance feels like, I'm not there yet. Still, just reading and imagining that is to hard.
Anyhow, great call for action. Or non-action. I mean, staying the course. Steady. Well done Colin.
You can do it, Jonas! I’m not great at running anymore. I lift weights and go on walks but I definitely don’t run like I used to. It was tough but you definitely get used to it! Just start with 3 miles or so and once that feels comfortable work your way up to 5 or 6 and see how you feel.
In April I finished a race with 35km and around 1500 elevation gain/loss. Took me a little bit more than 5 hours. My main goal for next year is marathon distance and > 2000hm. It may not sound like much of a difference but I keep getting set back with training. But it's fun fighting through nonetheless :-).
Dude that’s incredible! You definitely have me beat! I’ve ever done a marathon or anything like that. You’ll have to let me know how it goes when you do it!
You are a natural writer. I can feel you heart through your words.
Thank you so much! My whole family likes to write and tell stories so I’m sure that has helped. Really appreciate the encouragement!
My man, you could be writing for Nike with this absolute banger of an article. Well done! 👏👏👏
Thank you so much! That’s one of the nicest compliments I’ve ever gotten, so I appreciate it a lot!
Thank you for sharing, it reminds me of when I practiced with the Leukemia Foundation for a half marathon at first it was so hard but by the end I could not believe how more at ease I had become with the longer run. At the time my husband, a long distance runner, was in acceptance of his last year of his life & my niece who had Leukemia was fighting for her life. He passed, she survived. There’s so much more I can say about your note regarding survival & resilience. Gracias.
Thank you so much for sharing! That sounds like an awful experience to go through, but I appreciate your willingness to share. Feel free to write me personally if you want to talk about it more.
It’s amazing how much our attitude affects outcomes. I’m not always very good at remembering that, so this was kind of reminder to myself.
Thank you so much Colin, but it was not awful, it was a gift of living, loving and dying. My husband gifted me wisdom about death and my niece perseverance, hope and faith. I don’t mind sharing it because it’s an aspect of my life I cherish. Running for Leukemia, hospice for my husband and witnessing survival. I’m lucky.
That’s a really beautiful perspective! I’m sure it was tough to go through, but it sounds like you’ve gained a lot of wisdom from it.
Thank you!
I really relate to the part about the invisible timeline we create in our heads. Sometimes the hardest part isn’t even the challenge itself — it’s realizing that it may take much longer than we imagined.
I’ve had periods in my own life where I thought, surely by now things should look different, and that expectation made the waiting feel heavier than it needed to.
I also really like the idea of keeping a dream small enough to keep it alive. We often hear “go all in,” but sometimes resilience looks much quieter than that. Sometimes it is simply refusing to let something die while life asks you to focus somewhere else first.
Yeah it’s a hard thing to accept! Sometimes we’re our own worst enemy. I know that I put a ton of pressure on myself to meet certain milestones, and the truth is most of those milestones are just random ones in my head.
I can’t take credit for that one but I really appreciated David Hieatt’s approach! I thought… ok if he can keep his dream alive for 16 years, I ought to be able to be more patient with a few things in my own life!
Yes, exactly. It took us almost two years to make the move to Saudi happen, and even now we’re still far from the bigger dream we’re building toward.
I think that experience changed my relationship with timing a lot. Something can be moving forward even when it still feels incomplete.
Sometimes progress is not “I made it.” Sometimes it is simply, “I’m still building it, and I haven’t given up.”
"Keeping your dream small is better than quitting." -- Shoot for the moon and you'll still be among the stars never quite did it for me. Things felt too big to be actually possible. Your quote makes so much more sense to my little heart.
Thanks! Yeah I needed that encouragement too. Sometimes bug dreams are just overwhelming. David Hieatt and his crew really have been encouraging to me in changing my perspective on this.
Thanks for the tip! I’ll check out David 💕
Thank you for this article! It’s a lot more meaningful than the ones that just state the percentage of people who quit Substack in a few months!
I’m really glad you liked it! I try to always bring in personal stories or other fun examples, because I think that’s more interesting to read.
I agree keeping the dream small is better than quitting! I've had some small dreams for years.
Yeah I do think it’s good to dream big, but I found David Hieatt’s perspective on this so encouraging! I’m often tempted to quit because things don’t feel big enough yet. It was a good reminder it’s ok to just keep the flame alive sometimes.
Keeping the flame alive is momentous in and of itself!
So many great examples and lessons here. I ran a marathon and collapsed as soon as I crossed the finished line, ended up in the hospital…but I didn’t quit! I have a lot of inherent grit but when it comes to self belief and emotional strength, things get harder.
Oh man! Glad you ended up ok. That’s good you have that internal resilience. I’ve had more of it at other times in my life. Trying to get more of it back now.
Excellent essay, very true there is nothing like overnight success, it's a result of years of hard work, patience and tenacity that works wonders, thirty years back there was no ready to eat food available, what we ate we cooked from scratch, but the process taught us that even to eat we have to work from procuring ingredients to prepping and finally cooking, patience is the name of the game, never give up,best wishes 😊👍
Shilpa, thanks for sharing! Sounds like you had it a lot tougher than I have. But I think you’re right, we all have to go through something to learn more patience! I know I’m still learning it.
Very uplifting essay and brilliantly written. As someone who has to often remind myself to look for the lessons learnt instead of being bitter and look away. Keep writing and inspiring!
Thank you, Apurva! I’m glad you found it encouraging. I also have to remind myself to fight bitterness all the time.
Colin, super interesting read that holds you until the end! Exploring human reactions in extreme situations carries deep potential for storytelling. Thank you! Dreams have no deadline...
Thanks so much! Sorry I somehow missed your comment earlier!
Will take time for this one….
Thank you so much, @Magdalena Gereva, PhD! I hope you like it!
"It’s not a matter of wondering whether the trucks will drive away. Just assume they will."
This is really brutal. I have been training for trail running lately. I don't know how such a distance feels like, I'm not there yet. Still, just reading and imagining that is to hard.
Anyhow, great call for action. Or non-action. I mean, staying the course. Steady. Well done Colin.
You can do it, Jonas! I’m not great at running anymore. I lift weights and go on walks but I definitely don’t run like I used to. It was tough but you definitely get used to it! Just start with 3 miles or so and once that feels comfortable work your way up to 5 or 6 and see how you feel.
In April I finished a race with 35km and around 1500 elevation gain/loss. Took me a little bit more than 5 hours. My main goal for next year is marathon distance and > 2000hm. It may not sound like much of a difference but I keep getting set back with training. But it's fun fighting through nonetheless :-).
Dude that’s incredible! You definitely have me beat! I’ve ever done a marathon or anything like that. You’ll have to let me know how it goes when you do it!
So true.. Sometimes you have to keep your dream small enough to keep it alive. And reminds every day. Such a beautifully written piece.