“Don’t Give Up—You’ll Make It Someday.”

The entertainment industry showcases a particularly popular theme in many books, television shows, and movies: the opportunity to rise up and reach your dream. The chance to go from underdog to top dog.

It makes sense. Us Americans tend to like a happy ending. Not to mention, the people telling these stories are typically the top dogs. They’re the ones living their dreams.

I grew up with a strong belief that I could achieve any dream I had. It would take hard work, grit, and a determined perseverance, but if I put in all the effort toward whatever I wanted in life, I believed I would one day have it.

Professional soccer player? Check. International feature reporter (after I finished my soccer gig, of course)? Check. Popular fiction author (after I finished my journalism gig, of course)? Check.

Well, eventually dreams started to drop off as different life events walked on by. First I chose to leave soccer behind and stop my collegiate career. Then I slowly detached from the desire to become a journalist. Finally, my last dream of becoming an author didn’t disappear, but it did drop off the hope of becoming popular, and I decided that I would pursue getting published and nothing more.

A small part of me still believes that I could go back and make any dream happen. That anyone can make it, just like they say.

But what if you don’t make it?

We’re listening to the storytellers—which are people who have made it. Sure, it was really hard for some—for a lot of them. But what if you work harder than almost everyone else, and you have talent, and you don’t give up, but you never make it?

The older I’ve gotten the more I’ve realized how many people might be dealing with this. I can’t say I know “how hard” each person worked, but I do know plenty of people have dreams that don’t happen. I also bet there’s people out there who genuinely did everything that others said they needed to do and more and still the stars did not align for them.

Does that mean these people lost? Failed?

I don’t think so.

Here’s the thing about this become popular propaganda: it loses sight of what’s most important. Your progress and your personal accomplishment.

Now-a-days, it’s harder than ever to make something of yourself because the world wants to make something of itself. People want to become influencers on social media, truly everyone and their dog wants to publish a book, and others are seeking fame through acting, filming, and other means. For anyone who does end up posting consistently on social media or does end up publishing, it doesn’t guarantee they’ll get views or people reading their books.

We now have the benefit of being a more globally connected world, but it comes with the downfall of living in an oversaturated media. The opportunity for local success is much slimmer than it used to be. (However, I encourage it, if you can make it happen.)

When it comes down to it, making it is more than just hard work, grit, and a determined perseverance. It also takes luck. Some divine design.

In comparison to the masses that dream of making it, few people actually will. Does that mean you shouldn’t try? I don’t think so (unless your sole goal is becoming famous; you may want to rethink that).

Try to achieve your dreams with perspective. Try with the mindset that there are more important things.

You can progress. You can become better and the world may not recognize it. It doesn’t matter whether thousands of others compliment you on your journey. It still has the same value, whether others notice it or not.

You can produce. You can create something and it can have value for you, your friends and family, and maybe even your community. And if all else fails and no one will give your creation a second look, it can have value to you. That doesn’t make your product any less worthy. Sure, maybe it won’t be the best and maybe you’ll find errors, but you know what, you tried. You did something. And you’ll do it better the next time. That is admirable.

Forget the storytellers. Who cares if you make it? They sure make it look and sound cool, but if it were up to me, I’d be telling the story about the people who don’t make it. The people who who find satisfaction with who they are and what they do, even if they don’t receive praise from others. There’s something special about that.