The Journey not the Story

“Oh, the Places You’ll Go!” a classic Dr. Seuss children’s book that everyone is bound to come across at least once. For me it has conveniently shown up at every milestone I have experienced throughout my life. And I could not be more grateful that this is the bedtime story I associate with not only my childhood, but also my young adulthood. But there’s more to it than just the story, and that’s the journey and story my parents would share once we finished reading for the night. They would share their experience and journey of life to show the places you can go which made me want to be able to one day share my own story with my children, inspired by Dr. Seuss.

What’s funny about my favorite childhood story is, initially, I couldn’t even read it because I struggled with that aspect of learning. My parents worked with me nightly to make sure I wouldn’t fall behind and to make sure I could read on my own. And by no means was I happy about it, but they knew they needed to do it and I am so thankful now that they did. They pushed me to work hard from the beginning so that I didn’t fall behind and from that moment, when I finally finished reading my first book out loud I had felt so much pride that I didn’t stop there, I kept going. Now one of my biggest past struggles is one of my greatest joys today, thanks to Dr. Seuss. If you were to have told me as a young girl that reading would be one of my strengths today I would have laughed, but “Oh, the Places You’ll Go!”

It was a huge stepping stone for me when I started my babysitting journey as a young girl, because one of the first books I read was by Dr. Seuss. “One fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish”, I remember being nervous that I would mess up all his tricky tongue twisters that had always been a struggle for me, but was shocked when I didn’t. That’s when I thought back on how much I had grown. I had always been nervous to read out loud and portray a story to others, no matter their age, but that changed the second I stopped worrying about messing up and just did it. Overcoming your struggles is a huge part of life and thankfully I was able to overcome my struggle with reading early on, opening educational doors for me that I hadn’t known existed.

From that point on, I was a dreamer. Growing up my parents used this book as a pivotal statement that my siblings and I fully took to heart. As a kid I was encouraged to try everything, find my likes, dislikes and experience all that I could. And I did, but with that, one thing I always knew is that I wouldn’t always be the best at my favorite things. There would always be someone out there, either on my sports team or on an opposing team that was better. There would always be someone that was smarter, funnier, more out-going, or had a skill or attribute perfected that I was still working on myself. None of that mattered though, you know why? Because I knew even though I may not be the best, I could always be the one that worked the hardest, that always showed up, and be the best version of myself that I could be. Besides, I knew that I had my own attributes that made me unique and set me apart that others did not. My strengths are someone else’s weaknesses and my weaknesses could be their strengths. And as long as I gave it my all, not only was I happy, but so were my parents. I can thank Dr. Seuss for giving me the ability and confidence to embrace and celebrate that uniqueness, yet another way his words have been a large part of my life.

That hard-work that I learned from my parents and Dr. Seuss taught me more than anything else could and is one of the reasons I have reached the point I have in my life. I have worked every day of my life so that I could be happy and so that the work I put in now would pay off in the end. I have worked to achieve the grades I want, I have worked to create relationships that help make me a better person, and overall, I have worked to be better everyday whether that’s mentally, physically or spiritually. Dr. Seuss lit a fire under my belly that set me in a direction to not only be able to look back on how far I have come but to also dream about all the places I can go.

From then on the book pushed me forward, why stop and be complacent with where I was in life when I knew I could work to be somewhere better.

Another huge milestone for my family was when both my sisters graduated from high school and moved on with their lives which just further demonstrated all the possibilities life has to offer. I was still in high school but seeing the different directions my sisters went in and all they accomplished pushed me to be open-minded with how I looked at my own life and in the end it helped me grow exponentially.

By the time I graduated my parents gave me my own copy of “Oh, the Places You’ll Go!” that had been signed by and contained notes from a bunch of the teachers I had throughout my educational experience. Having notes from some of the people that had been pivotal in my life made me cherish the book even more. It gave me a momentum to hold on to from that point in my journey and I couldn’t be more grateful. I have consistently thought back to that book in the years since graduating high school and can’t help but smile.

I wonder if Dr. Seuss knew how much of an impact his words could have on a little girl. It is because of my personal experience with the book and the fact that my family has lived by it that I cannot picture another childhood bedtime story that I cherish more. I will share Dr. Seuss’ story, as well as my own, because I want my kids to dream big and know that they can do anything they set their minds to. This is a book I will hold onto dearly and use for years to come. It’s not a fairytale, it’s better. It's a reality if you take its words and go after what you want and live your life to its fullest. Which if you ask me is the best bedtime story a parent could tell. Dream big.