I stumbled in on my teenage daughter and her friends talking about the future. The theme for all of them was fear. How would they ever afford to go to school? How would they ever afford to get married? How would they ever afford to have children or buy a house? I smiled, remembering how these things once worried me.

Over the years, experience has taught me to treat life like raindrops rather big bodies of water. Think about it, oceans and some lakes are so big you can’t take them all in at once, no matter how hard you try. You only end up overwhelming yourself in frustration. But a raindrop is hardly any water at all. In fact, sometimes you don’t notice when one lands on you. Yet, overtime, those raindrops accumulate, becoming something far greater than you could have ever imagined.

Just like in our own lives, big dreams and lofty goals are not a bad thing. But shift your focus to the small steps you need to take to attain those desires. The further you look to the future the more stress you’ll feel. Stay with the little drops of effort you can easily do. I promise, over time, your life will accumulate into something amazing.