If your Dreams are Leaving you . . .

Belief is a Powerful Gift

There’s a lyric from Billy Joel that breaks me every time I hear it. Even writing this, I can feel it coming. My eyes are welling up right now just because I know I am about to talk about it. As soon as I type it I will be 100% crying. Something this powerful probably needs to be unpacked so let’s dive in.

The song is “Tomorrow is Today,” from Cold Spring Harbor. It follows a young man stuck in a loop—dreaming of something more, but waking up to the same life every day. Tomorrow is today. The first couple verses sets up this depressing cycle with a back drop of beautiful yet sullen piano. Then he goes into the bridge, where he picks up the pace; the piano swells as if to push back and he sings . . .

And some day if your dreams are leaving you, I’ll still believe in you!

That line wrecks me. Every time. Even this very moment, my face is scrunching up and the tears are flowing. I think this hits me so hard because I grew up believing that no one believed in me. Worse—I believed what I imagined other people thought about me; that I was some kind of a hopeless screw-up. I mourn the time wasted in this mindset. Now at 50, I understand that the WHOLE map and the WHOLE meaning is right here (heart) and that I can’t screw it up if I just keep listening to my embedded, and beating compass.

So I think the the tears come from two places:

1. Grief—for the years I spent not believing in myself

2. Awe— for the kind of belief you can give someone else when they can’t find it on their own

Number two has opened up the flood gates again as I type. This second part gets me so much because belief is such a powerful gift. Not empty encouragement—but earned , inspired belief. “Until you find your footing, I’ve got you. I see it in you—even if you don’t yet.” This inspired charity melts me into a sobbing puddle.

Listen to the song and you’ll hear the authenticity in Billy Joel’s voice. He wasn’t getting anywhere—but he told the truth anyway. And that truth didn’t just change his life—it reached people like me. And maybe that’s the point. To trust what’s already inside you. To follow it—even when no one else understands it. I’ve learned something the hard way: I don’t need anyone to understand me to follow what’s in my heart—but I also understand the power of offering belief to someone else, if it helps them find their footing. In other words, while I may not need anyone to confirm my path, someone else may need me.