It can be difficult to accept the phase of life I’m currently in when I long for a day in the future where I’ve obtained the final goal.

It’s difficult to trudge through the muck, pushing through the aching limbs and sluggish nature of exhaustion, working daily towards that golden life, but feeling it’s farther than ever.

Occasionally I wonder how far willpower can take me. How long can I push through before I collapse on the other side? How long until that future comes? How long must I wait?

Then I remember the exhaustion is only temporary—each night arises to offer another opportunity for rejuvenation.

The daily trudge is only temporary—a blip in time that will one day be a memory.

The questions and uncertainty are only temporary—time will bring their answer.

Every step taken is working towards the hope of something better, the silver lining behind every setback. Each day I push through the weariness is a day I make diligent effort towards the dream becoming reality.

Waiting is the hardest part. 

It often feels like I’m flying a hot air balloon, floating around at no speedy pace, looking for my landing place below.

I see a spot I’d like to settle, my dreamland plainly in view, but my path is at the whim of the wind, my descent slow, steady, and never fast.

I often wish I could rush my way there as though falling to the earth is more appealing than a slow descent.

Sometimes I move so slow I wonder if I’m getting anywhere, but my landing is not for now; it’s not soon, but I hold onto the promise that slowly it will come.

I am making progress.

Along the way, I pull the ropes and fire up the heat, tending to my balloon. I’m not there yet, but there’s work to do until that landing comes soon. 

I don’t always like floating around in my balloon. There are times clouds obscure my dreamland, and I forget to hold my hope through the storm. I need to remember: this storm will also pass, just as those from previous ages, and the lessons I learn will carry me through the next.

I hope in what’s to come, what is yet ahead. I am determined to prevent my storms from blinding me, obscuring what is here for me in the present. Even through the worst of troubles, there is joy in every day, positivity in every sorrow, and a sweet morsel to be savored.

It only requires accepting patience as a friend, maintaining hope in the future, and remaining content with, and diligent in, the present.