Of Horizons and Landmarks

Should we stop calling it a dream and maybe call it a horizon instead?

A dream gives the insinuation that it’s something that can only be found when you’re in a state of unconsciousness—something fragmented that enters your mind in a place of things that don’t exist.

However, in the distance, a horizon is something you can reach with some time.

A horizon is not a tangible concept, but it is visible—meaning it exists. A dream, on the other hand, doesn't exist in a reality-based sense. They are perceived but not part of the waking world.

Meaning, you can get to the location you saw based on the curvature of the Earth just fine. There’s nothing in the world that says you can’t achieve something except for your own doubt.

There may be people who don’t think you can do something, who don’t think you’re qualified, and you can safely ignore those voices because only you know what it is you set out to do.

You know what it is in your heart that you must accomplish in this world.

But I believe we should start calling these things a horizon, since the horizon is something you can see all the time.

It’s all around you.

You can turn 360 degrees, and you can’t elude it. It’ll always be there, and no matter where you walk in that radius or circumference, you’ll make it there because there’s a horizon all the way around.

That’s a prime concept to grasp, to think about how you're always walking toward the landmarks in the distance.

We have all heard generic self-help ideas about what dreams are or how to achieve our goals.

But maybe we should set intentions instead.

A goal, while great, most times is only something you talk about, not necessarily something you reach.

However, if you walk in any direction, you’ll get to your particular horizon.

And what’s after that? Well, there’s more horizon. So set the next intention and reach forward to that. There’s no reason to doubt yourself. You’ve got it within yourself. You can do anything you decide to do as long as you put in the work.

I’m not one of those people who’s going to tell someone what they must do or that they must do something a certain way. That’s not how I do things.

However, I do believe that you must always rise above that which inhibits you. In other words, if there’s something taking you away from what you need to achieve in your life, get rid of it. Maybe not forever, but put it away for a while.

It’s okay.

It’ll come back to you. It’ll still be there in that box, safely tucked away.

The idea of being unfulfilled really bothers me. I don’t believe in being unfulfilled. Finding fulfillment and purpose is something that will always enliven the soul.

We all have something to offer the world, and using our self-illumination, we can also illuminate others. We can put things away all we want, but if we don’t stick to the path we choose to move forward in, we might never find ourselves at the end of that horizon.

So maybe cut Netflix shows out. Perhaps you don’t need to catch up on the latest season of whatever show is big right now. You know what is amazing and fulfilling, though? Being the type of person who could make something like that.

I’ve always believed that being a creator is better than being a consumer, but I will never say that consuming someone else’s art or creation is negative.

Quite the contrary, actually.

As an artist myself, I know people should consume that which is created. That’s fine. I’m not trying to say you shouldn’t ever do that. But my point is, there’s something fulfilling, something truly enlivening, about creating something for yourself. The dopamine rush that comes from accomplishment is something that cannot be replicated in any other facet of life.

Obviously, romance and relationships can give you a different joy, and families, memories, and interests will also give you myriad ways to enrich your life, but there’s something special about creating. There’s something wonderful about putting something together that your own hands, voice, and mind created.

We’re going to have to walk a long, long way to get to the horizon we originally saw.

And when we get there, we’ll have to keep moving forward even more.

But the reason I think we should anchor the concept of a horizon instead of a dream is quite simple.

The horizon is shared by everyone in this world, meaning we all have a horizon.

We all have it. There’s no escaping the fact that we all have this 360-degree view of the distance. It’s available to everyone on this planet equally. It doesn’t judge you. It will not be taken away from you. It’s simply there, and it is up to us to walk toward it.

Dreams, however, can be individual things—creations of the mind at a time when consciousness is disconnected from the rest of the world. Not everyone at night is going to have the same dream about certain things. These are fragments and recollections of pieces of the day and, biblically, sometimes messages from the divine, even if that’s rare.

But horizons are shared by everyone, and everyone has the same circle of possibility available to them. The horizon is an opportunity. How you define that opportunity is how you see it, though. In that sense, it’s personal to you.

I will never believe that dreams, goals, or, as I’ve stated in this post, a horizon are altogether unachievable for the vast majority of people.

Maybe sometimes we don’t want to put in the time, effort, and sacrifice it takes to get something done, but we have to move forward anyway.

How can we ever expect to get to where we’re going if we don’t put our steps in motion to begin with?

Taking things a step further, using binoculars can help you see the horizon much closer. In fact, they extend it, don't they? Use your personal binoculars to get a telescopic view of the world around you. It’s up to you to choose the landmark. A circle is 360 degrees, as stated earlier, meaning no matter where you go, you’re going to end up on that line and landmarks round about, to say it archaically.

Travel to the horizon you desire, and the momentum will propel you toward any landmark you must reach. Notice I said, "must" reach. Because staying still and not doing anything makes the horizon as distant as it could be. And maybe the horizon you want is over in the mountains, but once you reach those heights, your horizon boundary increases and you are able to see farther out.

For example, I can see the mountains from my house. That's how this city is, with Pikes Peak towering over everyone here. Beautiful, strong, ancient structures that evoke inspiration. And they can be scaled. Sometimes the mountains themselves are the horizon when you’re far away. But the point is, they’re reachable. You can go there, and it isn't an ethereal place within the mind alone.

I recently drove through mountain passes 13,000 feet in the air this past summer while traveling to a wedding, and I thought those heights made the world look awe-striking, as high in the sky as some civilian planes like a Cessna. I was hundreds of miles away from my home, but the horizon was even higher there, meaning there had been more to see. And that was in a car. Flying gives you such a grand view that you can witness the horizon appear flatter than it is under your eye level, but the plane is still moving toward part of that magic of perspective.

Sometimes achieving (viewing?) the horizon you want requires scaling terrain or rising into the air, and that’s how it should be. Things that are worth doing in this life are always going to take work. They’re always going to push us past our normal boundaries, and we should always want to exceed our limitations.

But remaining cognizant of the limitations we have concurrently. Obviously, I’m not meant to play basketball, and the people who are, I pray that they have success in what they do.

What I do is write, and I love writing. It’s the one thing that makes me feel alive in this world, something I can always come back to, something that is always there to help me make something new.

Writing, for me—I wouldn’t say it’s therapy, but it’s reason in my voice and fingers.

It’s the reason I was put here. Something that comes to me through emanation, but also a little bit of struggle, right? Not everything in life can be easy-breezy ( and Japanesey? I'm thinking I'm old with that reference), but we still have to move forward in that which we are called to do.

Horizon lines are all a matter of perspective because we live on a curved Earth. So doesn’t it make sense to get ahead of the curve and make it to the end of the horizon? And going further, instead of simply a horizon, why don’t we think of our destination as a landmark in the distance that we can slowly make our way toward? In this way, you have something to look forward to, and you have something to make it to.

Think of yourself as being on a boat, and there’s a lighthouse in the distance—a beacon telling you to come its way. That’s the achievement. You still have to cross the water, but as long as you’re moving forward, you’re always going to be seeing it.

Sometimes your eyes will blink, of course, which means there’s some stalling here and there, a window of half-time where you're not seeing the end. But in the end, the ultimate fulfillment you’re searching for comes into closer focus.

I don’t believe in waiting for inspiration to strike. I’ve never believed in writer’s block. I don’t believe in making excuses or saying we can’t do something because it’s too hard. It’s the difficult things in my life that have made me grow the most, and I will always be thankful for the hardships. My last four sentences may have started with 'I', but at least I wrote them.

Speaking of writing, creating novels can be difficult. Creating anything, really, is difficult. But at the end of the process, when you get to the horizon you saw through your telescope or binoculars, there’s a feeling that’s unmatched. It’s something that can’t be replicated by anything else. You’re going to want to keep doing it over and over, and you might get addicted to it.

You need to choose the path that makes the best impact on other humans so that they can also walk toward their horizon. Direct your steps intentionally so that the destination you want will be within reach.

You might use a GPS to get there. You might even use your eyes themselves. As we kids of the ’90s would know, a paper map will help guide you.

But progress and motion mean leaving our solid, stationary destination behind and getting to that landmark. You don't need a map to reach a landmark. Find that focal point within yourself and move forward.

I have never believed that we are meant to be mediocre if we can help it.

And the best part of the horizon metaphor is that you will always have 360 degrees of choices before you when you get to that new landmark.

So no matter how far you take it and no matter where you end up, you’ve got infinite possibilities.

Pick that point on the horizon and get going now, so your new destinations will open up to you.

Reach it.

Savor it.

Enjoy when you get there, but then keep going because a sphere is infinite when it comes to movement. You can move around the Earth infinitely and never stop.

There's no such thing as excuses for an expedition to take place. You must finish to call it successful.

I don’t believe in “I can’t make it.”

I have never believed in such destructive language. But forward motion causes the time and space you previously resided in to move behind you by the laws of physics themselves.

You can choose to take a car, a plane, a train, your legs—whatever it might be.

But you should always move forward.

Yeah, there are horizons behind you, too, but those are the places you’ve already reached.

So keep going.

Make it to the end so you can fulfill the meaning of destination.

Finding your point of arrival.