The first dream I ever had was more of a nightmare: I was in the driver-seat of a car, looking out beyond the windshield. The car was in motion, speeding quickly along a pier reaching out into the ocean. All I could do was watch as the vehicle burst through the pier's wooden railing, hurtling into the waters below. There was no struggle, no belt buckle to wrestle unhinged, no lock on the door to frantically try to click the opposite way, and there wasn't a single thing I could do to escape the drowning. I fell downward until there was darkness and nothing more. No sound, no feeling, just the pitch black, great unknown.

The last recurring dream was of me waking up with the sun beaming through flowing curtains. I slowly got dressed, watched the light dance with particles in the air, and headed outside. I began to jog. I don't know where I was going, but the was no traffic, no hustle and bustle, and the warm air was softly touching my skin. I felt alive in the still silence. My breath was heaving rhythmically as my knees kept drawing closer to my chest with each stride. Before I knew it, I was running. I was running at a full sprint in new directions, to places I'd never seen. I was running into the blinding white, great unknown.

You see, you can choose one of two things in this life.

1. You coast along, doing the same old thing and never go anywhere, never do anything you really want to.

You'll drown in monotonous routines, never pushing yourself to make your dreams a reality. After all, it's better to be comfortable in life than break the chains that bind you, right?

OR

2. You run. You run so far, so fast that you see it all.

You see everything you wanted to; you become who you always wanted, and you feel the warmth of the light upon your skin. You run because you know if you stand still or walk the same path as everyone else, that you'll never stand out. You'll never stand strong. So, you run. You run because it's the only thing you know.

My advice to you is to run. Please, run. Do the things you want to do, do things you were always afraid of trying and never surrender. Don't give up if life beats you down a few times. Don't give up when you're out of breath. Take a quick breath, not too long, and run. Keep running and don't stop until you find yourself in a place where you are truly happy with what you've done and who you are. And then, when you're at that point, if you want to be with someone while you run, invite them in and run with everyone you can. If you're afraid you won't make it to the finish line, that's OK. You will, though. You have to.