The Power of Commitment

By Selina Barker

Funny how yesterday I wrote ‘Well if there’s one thing I know, to live the life you dream of takes courage and commitment.’

No sooner had I muttered the word ‘commitment’ than it came and hit me straight back in the face. A string of emails later and I had to turn around and admit that ‘ARGH! OK, I DON’T DO COMMITMENT VERY WELL!.’

I contacted 3 people that live the life I dream of (not the 5 that I committed to) asking for advice on how to turn dreams into reality. I was kind of hoping for some lovely ‘oh it’s easy, just have faith, chill out and your perfect job will fall into your lap’. What I got instead was a slap of reality.

The messages came back loud and clear: I was right – the key to turning dreams into reality IS commitment. Unfortunately commitment is what I don’t have. In fact I try to avoid it at all costs.

I tossed back cleverly crafted emails trying to find ways of getting round commitment - how surely it’s better to go with the flow and take what life offers me rather than commit to specific results which has me trying to force outcomes? it didn’t wash.

The final straw was someone throwing Goethe into my inbox:

THE POWER OF COMMITMENT

"Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one's favour all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamed would have come his way.

Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. Begin it now".

J. W. von Goethe

What I see there is for me to do now is really get to the root of why I have such an aversion to 'commitment'. I can’t afford to be fighting it because without commitment my dreams will stay up in the clouds.

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