Reality is a nightmare for dreamers
dunk or die
Subway rides to write this: 3
Imagine you’re 51 years old and still dunking.
Crazy, right?
Now imagine you’re 51 years old and still dunking BAREFOOT.
Impossible, right?!
Apparently not—because I recently posted a “Do You Still Hoop?” episode featuring Kadour Ziani.
At 51 years and just 5’11”, Kadour has been a professional dunker for 33 years. He’s dunked over 33,000 times and recorded a 56” vertical jump in his prime.
(this my best performing episode so far too with 170K+ views, 11K+ likes, 3K+ shares!!)
Despite father time, he still has crazy bounce—and yes—he can still dunk barefoot.
In fact, that was the first thing he did when I met him at 7am to film this episode.
I was in total shock when it happened, and it caused me to do some real introspection about my relationship with health and fitness.
My conclusion is that I need to stretch more.
But what’s really been top of mind after filming that interview was a quote from Kadour towards the end of the episode.
When asked about what keeps him going, Kadour shared,
“There’s a lot of sacrifice. But reality is a nightmare for dreamers.” - Kadour Ziani (DYSH Episode 11)
In the moment I didn’t think much of it since I was in interviewing & filming mode.
But when I went to edit the video, this quote stopped me and made me really think about my life…
Beyond my need to stretch more.
Searching for meaning
Sometimes I wonder why I do what I do.
Is this even worth it?
For me, the way Kadour framed his sacrifices opened my eyes to (1) what I’m doing and (2) why I’m doing it.
Idk if I would call my life a “nightmare” without Regular Hoops, but I certainly can’t imagine what I would be doing if I didn’t have this sense of purpose.
I’m on a mission to make regular people feel included in basketball culture.
Kadour’s quote normalizes the struggle and reminds me that sacrifice is part of the journey to reach our dreams.
What that sacrifice is just depends on the extent of your goals.
Like how badly do you want your dreams to become reality?
And how big is your dream?
Although I have a really big dream, I don’t think that’s needed to enjoy life.
And if your life feels good right now, then ignore me haha.
Sacrifice
There are a lot of factors that impact dreams, which honestly, I’m oblivious to.
Like being older, having kids, health issues, personal issues, etc.
So don’t take my word so seriously… I’m just a naive Gen-Z kid.
But if I had to think of another example regarding sacrifice, the first thing that comes to mind is my Baba.
He left Lebanon after graduating high school and came to the US for college with nothing.
He built his life in the US and dreamed of providing for his family here because of the greater opportunities.
Was he some crazy successful business man?
No.
Did he become a corporate executive?
Also no.
I don’t want to speak for him, but I think his dream of building a good life in the US has come true because he sacrificed so much in his 20s and 30s.
While life in Lebanon would have been good, it probably would not have satisfied him. He wanted more. And that meant moving to the US.
Your turn
So think about what your “nightmare” is…
It doesn’t need to be something so scary, just something that wouldn’t satisfy/excited you.
Have something in mind?
Now think about what sacrifices would be required to reach that “dream” point in life.
In my Baba’s situation, that meant working in a parking lot in downtown Detroit to pay for his college.
In my situation, that might mean editing videos on a Friday night (although I really try not to lol).
Got your sacrifice?
Great, now you have a framework to base decisions on as opportunities are presented to you…
Because who wants their reality to feel like a nightmare?
…maybe the Joker?
Lol I’m gonna stop now.
Maybe this was a dumb post, but I hope it helped remind you why you’re making sacrifices in your life.
PS—I never dunked a basketball, but I was able to dunk a tennis ball on a 10 foot rim (video above for prove). Kinda stopped training after this…
I guess my inability to dunk was not enough of a nightmare for me, and I didn’t want to make the needed sacrifices to dunk.
“Subway rides to write this” is a metric I share at the start of every blog to show that making content doesn’t need to be so difficult. You can find the time to create during everyday activities.
Each subway ride for me is ~15-30 minutes long.
Also…
Please note: some of my new blogs (started Sept’24) contain a lot of satire and should not always be taken at face value.
Expect to see typos, wordy/repetitive sentences, passive voice, and anything else you’d expect from a “D-” graded high school assignment.
Because that’s my writing ability according to my first ever hate comment back in 2018.