Ok, so my dream to get on Letterman is complete. All the details of my journey are going to be in a documentary entitled cleverly enough “Dying To Do Letterman” with the help of my filmmaker friends Joke and Biagio (jokeandbigio.com or jokeproductions.com). So now what?
Well, as many of you know, the tumors on my liver have shown little or no growth since starting this project. I like to believe that chasing my dream kept my body so busy it had no time to let the cancer grow. I don’t know if I DO believe that–but I like to believe that. of corse the logical question is what now? Will the cancer start growing again, now that you’ve reached your dream?
I hope not. And now I wanna believe that if I find a new dream to chase, the tumors will remain the same size or decrease. So what other quest can I replace my lifelong dream with?
Ironically enough, the answer came from the first dream. I’ve received thousands of messages about people being inspired by my journey to Letterman. Many people have told me they were inspired enough to chase a new dream, or renew an old one they have given up on. My mottos of “It’s not how much time you have, it’s what you do with it” and “if you stop chasing your dreams, you are already dead” appear to have touched a nerve with many people out there going through the motions like I was. I am touched to have helped anyone grab life by the reins.
Strangely enough, my dream was a very selfish one. To get on Letterman at any cost, in any way. In the end hard work, persistence and some funny got me on. But behind that was a lot of sacrifice of time with my wife, friends, and family. And of course all the allowances they all had to make to let me chase my dream. All for me…selfish.
The cool thing is that through this selfishness I have somehow helped other people renew their convictions on dreams they had deferred. Funny how my selfishness has helped others!! ha ha Well, I am so hooked on the great feelings I get from inspiring others that I’m making that my new dream.
I am going to do my best to inspire others to get back to that child-like excitement they had about something in their lives… to realize that life is too short to wait for things to come to you… to wake-up to the fact that disease, a car-crash, an accident or any twist of fate can take all the time you think you have left away at any second.
My first step will be to complete the “Dying To Do Letterman” documentary with Joke and Biagio. Their talent is so great that a couple minute trailer they made was enough to move people to tears and start thinking about things we all ignore. I know that this film will inspire many more people than I could alone.
And I’m confident that by putting the work into the film, like I did to get on Letterman, I’ll find the next step in how to spread the incredible gift of perspective I have been given.
Stay tuned—SM