Dreams are the seedlings of reality.

Awake, arise, and assert yourself, you dreamers of the world.

Your star is now in the ascendancy.

-- Napoleon Hill

This weekend, I achieved the top item on my bucket list: to see lava.

It was spectacular.

After a 7 hour hike to 13,000 feet, I was beyond exhausted. Yet when heard the rumblings of the volcano, and the guide yelling, "Come quickly!", my pain was replaced with excitement; my trudging replaced with jogging; and my complaining with joy.

Before I hiked Acatenango, I spoke with at least a dozen people who'd done it already. Each of them expressed some variation of this sentiment: "It was both the most-amazing and the most-difficult thing that I've ever done."

By the time that I rounded the corner and took this photo of my first-ever volcanic eruption, I knew exactly what they had all meant.

One of my favourite authors (and personal heroes), @markmanson, has a saying:

"What's your favourite flavour of Shit Sandwich? and does it come with an Olive?"

By that he means: everything in life has its trade-offs -- its pros and its cons. The secret is to find those things (and people) which are net-positives to you personally: which make you feel alive; which make you forget how exhausted you are; which make you so excited that you find a well of energy within yourself that you never knew existed.

Which you've had along; but which maybe you'd forgotten about.

❤️ Xuxo