Vision - Part 1

The following is the product of a 3 hour train journey and a blank piece of paper... I thought I would experiment with the idea of 'what does vision look like?' and this narative came as a result. I feel the need to add the disclaimer you find in the front of any book: This is a work of pure fiction. Any resemblance to anyone, living or dead is purely coincidental. The characters are fictional and of my own creation. The place, time and incidents are purely fictional!

Where does vision meet reality? How vision make it from my head into the real world. Perhaps an even deeper question - what is the vision any way?

Vision is a very personal thing, it reflects who we are, what we have been through. Your vision is not my vision, my vision is not your vision... My vision is shaped by my experience, it is a result of who I am and where I long to go. This vision comes from my passions, it doesn’t matter what that passion is for, but it the passion which leads to vision.

While this vision can communicated, it is always seen through rose tinted glass. It can never truly grasped by another person, at least not in the way that you grasp it.

As I begin to share this vision, to lay this vision bare and to open myself up... It is now that the vision can be quenched and the passion extinguished. People don’t understand the vision, individuals cannot see it the way I do... and why would they? Is it their vision? No it is still my vision.

But now, as the vision is shared it changes. As it changes it grows. Others respond to my vision and comment on my passions. This vision expands as more individuals share their passions, the things that excite them, and ultimately share their vision.

And then it is no longer my vision or your vision, but our vision. This new vision is the sum total of many other visions that have come together into a beautiful harmony.

This new vision leads to a new fresh passion and excitement. This new vision inspires and encourages, it is no longer just one person working towards fulfilling their vision, instead it is many people being sparked off each other into a fire by this grand new vision.

Rather than competing visions trying to fight for air, individuals are unified by this one sole vision and together they work towards it, looking forward to the fulfillment of their collective vision.

As one individual in this group becomes discouraged by the lack of progress or lack of results, there is another individual energised by the potential they see. So much energy that you can’t help but get caught up in their passion and their enthusiasm. The result? Our vision is renewed and our passion refreshed.

So together we run putting all our energy into this vision, we do the research and all the planning, we improve our strategy and we work. We work hard.

But it is more than just work - into this vision we pour ourselves. Yes it starts with our time and our energy, but also our hopes and dreams getting poured in too. Together we are passionate and excited for what this vision will become.

And then it happens.

The vision is complete. What we’ve worked on for days, for months or for years comes to fulfillment. The tears and stress that came before now vanish in the sight of what has been achieved together. Not by just one person, not by one leader, not by one person’s vision. No this magnificent finish is the work of more than just one...

No one can claim it was their success, or their own prize; instead it was our success and our prize. This big finish was achieved together, we worked together, we shared together, we cried together and we pushed together. We poured everything we had into this; we made ourselves vulnerable as we shared what was most close to us; our vision.

Through that act of trust and sharing we created something that was bigger, bigger than just my vision and bigger than just your vision.

Our vision has become something wondrous.

I've got a part two written, so I may post up here at some point. The banner image was adapted from the photo by Chris McClanahan. As always comments are welcome!