Why You Should Never Give Up On Your Dreams

How my dead grandpa inspired me to never give up on my dreams…

A few years ago I got hooked on searching for my ancestry online.

How cool would it be to have an ancestor who was a founding father of the nation, influential politician, or a major business leader?

Well, after a week or two of searching, I couldn’t find anything past my 6th great grandfather…

…And all the way up the chain – nothing special.

Mostly farmers.

My high hopes of having someone “remarkable” to serve as an inspiration washed down the drain.

But what was kind of cool was that my 6th great grandfather was buried in East Texas a couple of hours from where I live in Dallas.

A couple of months after I discovered this, my daughters happened to have a school campout about 20 minutes from the cemetery.

So, when I picked them up from camp, I took them to see their 7th great-grandpa.

We walked around the small cemetery and finally found his grave.

It was a pretty surreal feeling standing there looking at the grave of my oldest known ancestor.

As I stood there, it struck me that he was never mentioned once in my entire life.

Not Once…

Come to think of it, I never even heard the name of anyone past my grandfather.

All the way up the line…

They lived.

Died.

…And were quickly forgotten.

No memoirs, pictures or statues.

Not a shred of evidence of their life other than the mention in ancestry records and the small weathered gravestone.

As I stood there holding my two daughters’ hands, I felt a little sadness.

But after a few moments standing there in silence, I started getting goosebumps.

A powerful feeling came over me as I realized the incredible blessing I’ve been given to break the cycle of “forgotten-ness” that came before me.

Within my power, I hold the incredible capability of doing something so remarkable in my life that I’ll be known for generations after I’m gone.

Instead of my 6th generation grandchildren coming to my grave knowing nothing about me, they’ll be able to read my books, see my videos, and read about the impact I was able to make.

Even more inspiring was the thought that, just like my mom who inspired me…

I have the ability through my example, to inspire my children to do great things.

You, my friend, hold that same power.

You may have been letting your power lie dormant for quite some time…

…But you have it within you right now as you read these words.

You may be going through struggles, feel lost and hopeless, and feel down on yourself and wonder how the hell you could ever serve to inspire someone else…

If you feel any of that, believe me, I’ve felt all of those feelings and so much more.

I’ve had times where I couldn’t see a light at the end of the tunnel and had to hold on to blind faith that there was a way out. So many times I’ve been at the end of my rope and I just had to tie a knot and hang on.

I don’t know where you are, but you need to know that where you’ve been has absolutely no control over where you’re going.

You have so much more power inside you than you realize.

In my darkest hours, thank goodness I searched for mentors that could help me find my light.

Because I refused to give up on my dreams, I’ve been blessed beyond belief to have the significance of knowing that I’ve been able to inspire many others to achieve their dreams as well.

Don’t give up, my friend. You can do this.