One of the most wonderful feelings in the world is when you have an “aha” moment, and you realize there is this one thing that you would love to have, be, or do, and you decide to follow that gut instinct and go after it.

Many times it is hard enough to know what that dream is, so having a clear idea of what you want, usually means having half the battle won.

But that doesn’t mean that those goals are close to being achieved, or that it will take a short time and little effort to achieving them.

Going after your dreams is never a smooth and easy journey. Even with a perfect plan in mind and many precautions taken, it is unlikely that the path will not present unforeseen obstacles or situations.

The key to achieving your dreams is not to succumb to discouragement. There is nothing more painful that not knowing if you could have ever made it work, or not knowing how close you came to fulfilling those dreams.

Therefore, discouragement, frustration, and impatience are your worst enemies, and the hardest thing to “shake off” in order to keep going on your quest.

So how do you go against the negativity and the urge to quit? Simply by changing your perspective. Choose to make the road as important as the end goal. Each step is, in itself, part of that dream.

Every misstep can be a lesson, if you choose to see it as such. Every roadblock can be an opportunity that sets you in the right path. Even if you were between two choices and you chose the wrong one, the time spent was not time lost, it was time needed for you to be enlighten, for you to learn something from that event, or about yourself, which will come handy when you are attaining your dreams.

Every time you decide not to give in or give up, and instead keep going towards your objective, you are one step closer to attaining it.

The road is long, curvy, frustrating, but also satisfying, when you see it as a path to strengthen your commitment and determination of going after what you know -deep in your heart- that it is what you want.

Learn from the journey, because each lesson will make that end goal so much more precious, so full of experiences, and so much more worthy of all of it.