Don’t give up so easily!

(Thoughts from 3 Feb, 2017)

You can do it, homie! That dream...you can! Here's a little advice from our Big Burton Bon Voyage:

Don't give up so easily!

Last week we went back to the local police hq to collect our new residency cards, “tarjetas de residencia” in Spanish.

All told that makes 9 months to complete the process. Yep. 9 months, from the initial gathering of information, documents and personal info to submit our request for temporary visas to having the official residency card in hand. You must have this card to complete many other applications necessary to living legally and making the most of your life in Spain.

There were many obstacles along the way.  Many reasons that we could have given up or lost hope. So many times we could have made excuses and given up: we were told by locals that they didn't think the Spanish government would grant visas to a family of 9; The expense of all the documentation needed for the visa applications alone was enough to make us pause and seriously consider whether it was worth the risk of being denied; The hours Maja spent researching what type of visa we should apply for and all the corresponding documents needed. And so on. All while continuing to live our already insane big family life. Yeah, we could have taken the easy way out at any of a hundred crossroads along the way.

But "the dream" gave us heart to continue. To press on. To climb the obstacles and move on to the next objective.

See, the great thing about continued effort is that you begin to develop the muscles and callouses that make the next steps easier to accomplish. You gain a little more confidence and experience to make you feel more capable when the next ruff spot comes along.

The life we've lived has taught us the very valuable lesson of persistence and tenacity. So many times we have put ourselves into positions that we can't back out of. Sometimes on purpose. Other times we felt an urge in our Spirits, a direction from God (like letting Him be in charge of how many kids we would have). Still other times, we had taken wrong paths but our drive to live with integrity and to treat others as we'd like to be treated forced us to finish the task. In all such instances, you have to keep that white knuckled grip on the end goal and keep driving until you get there.

Sometimes, actually most times, it's the strength of the "why" that gives you the gumption to push through the suck. The core reason you pursue a course of action needs to be strong enough to help see you through the doubts or exhaustion of completing the task.

So keep hustlin, amigo!  That idea that you're dying to try, that passion that you barely have time for, the destination you so sorely want to sink your toes into?...dig down deep to the core of why it's so important to you. And when you find the "why", wrap it up in a million Christmas lights and hang it up high so you can see it all the time! If something is obstructing the view, knock it down or climb over it. And when you start to get tired or it seems impossible, take a peek at that guiding light and think about how far you've already come and how much you've learned along the way.  Keep those eyes on the prize, as they say!

You're killing it, kid. Keep climbing! Don't give up!