Dream or Reality

It was a warm morning on the Mediterranean.  I was sitting on the rocks by the water, hoping for the ripple to turn into waves.  My feet were touching the salty water as I was flipping the pages of the magazine on my lap. The pages were filled with images of colorful windsurfers under the Golden Gate Bridge.  I wondered what San Francisco looked like. Those pages made me dream every night about a life where windsurfing is no longer a summer sport but it is way of life.  I wanted it.  I wanted to pursue my passion in a way that I would not be dependent on anything but the wind. I was 11…

I had this plan in my head: If I can go to the US (where I have NEVER been) for college, maybe I can move to San Francisco and earn enough money to afford my own equipment to windsurf under the Golden Gate Bridge.  And MAYBE, I can even windsurf after work.  It was truly a made up dream in my head but at least it was somewhat achievable (filled with A LOT of “maybe”s).

I graduated from High School with dual diploma - International and Turkish.  I got accepted to multiple colleges in the US and also placed in a good university in Turkey, which is much harder than taking SATs.  I got into UCLA but waitlisted in Berkeley. A family member, who used to live in Berkeley, recommended that I stay on the East Coast for college due to the distance to home.  We took her recommendation and I ended up at UVA.  My last year at UVA, as I was making a decision between a company in SF vs. Capitol One in Richmond (to save enough money for SF), my advisor reminded me of my dream.  All of a sudden, the decision became really easy and I ended up moving to San Francisco.  I found myself a studio that cost almost my whole pay check but I was still very happy and excited to be in my dream city.  Within months I found a way to get to the beach.

Guess what?  My very first time in the water, I ended up with a broken equipment, in the middle of the fog where I had to flag down another windsurfer for help.  We both safely made it to the shore right on time - before the tide took us both into the ocean.  That experience was scary but hooked me even more to my passion.  When I bought my very first windsurf board (and it was brand new), with my own paycheck, I actually slept with my board on my full size bed in my 6th floor studio (with no elevator). :)

For me, dreams are part of reality, as long as I do not loose sight of the path to get to those dreams.  Now, how about we use “reality” as our tool for a workout.  As this month’s workout, I will share with you a class we did this month under the theme of “Back to Reality”.  As our tool, we used our cell phones.

Workout with your phone!

High Five to those who chase their dreams…

I hope he will never stop chasing his big dreams…