Levia
Hartman
Blog

Many people have dreams for their life: being wealthy, having certain relationships, or not being dependent on anyone or anything else. Those thoughts seem like a far-off distant place, a fictional paradise, a dream. Without a personal growth journey, that’s just what those thoughts are, dreams – not reality. And the scary thing is, people who bypass the journey, or by chance obtain some piece of their dream, often find they weren’t ready for it.

In my book, Crown Up, I share about how my mother and I immigrated to the United States after being refugees in Liberia, Africa. At that young age, America was a place of enchantment, almost like a paradise. When my mother and I immigrated, we found that we weren’t prepared; we weren’t ready for this new place of dreams, and the result was a living nightmare.

When we immigrated to America, we knew that our wishes had been granted. Our prayers were answered. I didn’t know about – or maybe willfully forgot about the long road through high mountains and up steep cliffs to get there. There was no denying that it was an amazing opportunity, one worth celebrating, and that others only dreamed about.

But for us; two poorly educated, victimized, and traumatized young women, entrance into the United States was an incredibly difficult process. Suddenly, I found myself living in the dream world – in an elementary school in the United States! But the fact I didn’t belong was undeniable. I thought to myself, what am I doing sitting here with all these people? My intellect does not compare to theirs. They are probably mocking and talking bad about me under their breaths. These white folks went to school several years before me. They are more educated and smarter than me. I wasn’t making these assumptions because of how anyone in this dream land was treating me, but because that was how I saw myself on the inside. Unfortunately, these assumptions also became the reputation I built for myself.

My point is that we need to embrace our own personal growth journey and realize that the long winding road does lead to our fulfilled dreams. When we refuse to change and grow, we stop on the side of that trail. When we try to jump ahead, we may find that we haven’t grown enough in soul to truly enjoy that dream and instead find ourselves bitter. It may feel unpleasant and difficult, but the road doesn’t end where you are today. Push through, find ways to enjoy the trip, weather the storms, and decide to change how you think and feel. Your dream is just on the other side of mountain!