If you want the gold go after the dragon

Billy Bixbee woke up to a small dragon one day, about the size of a small cat. Surprised, Billy patted the dragon and went on to share the news with Mom who dismissed him as she made breakfast by saying, “There’s no such thing as a dragon!”

Billy went on to change his pajamas and refused to pat the dragon this time. Mom said there’s no such thing, so why pet something that doesn’t exist? Billy came down for breakfast and the dragon - now the size of a dog- followed.
Both hungry, Billy sat at the table and the dragon on the table. No doubt Mom would have told the dragon to get off the table, but since there was no such thing, there wasn’t much she could do.
Breakfast was ready but Billy was too slow—the dragon ate the whole batch. At the sight of this, Mother made more pancakes until the batter was all out. Billy only managed to have one.

Billy went upstairs, probably upset, and the dragon took a nap just by the dinner doorway as Mother started clearing up the table.
After some time, Billy came back down and was shocked to see that the dragon had grown the size of the hall itself. So much so that he had to maneuver his way to Mom. “I didn’t know dragons grew so fast!” said Billy, to which mom replied unwaveringly, “There’s no such thing as a dragon!”

Cleaning the house was quite the challenge for Mom this time around. Going around the dragon, lifting the tail to reach the tougher dirt spots on the floor, and even climbing in and out of windows to get to other rooms. Very odd, considering there’s no such thing as a dragon.

It was noon, and the dragon had grown so much that he was now wearing the house as a shell, like a turtle. The head coming out the front door, tail coming out the backdoor.
The smell of sweet, buttery bread woke the hungry dragon from its nap. It was a bakery van passing by and, too much for the dragon to resist, darted behind the van along with the house. Mother, Billy, the mailman, the neighbors, they all were puzzled beyond belief. Mr. Bixbee got home for lunch and did not take long at all to notice that the house was gone.

He drove around the neighborhood attentively and soon found the house with both Mother and Billy waving from an upstairs window and the dragon feasting on buttery bread. Certainly, the bakery van driver wasn’t having a great day.

“How did this happen?” asked Dad.
“It was the dragon,” said Billy.
“There’s no such thing …” Mother started but Billy interrupted, “There is a dragon! A very BIG dragon!” and patted the dragon on the head. Soon enough the dragon got smaller much faster than it had grown and once more it was the size of a cat.

“I don’t mind dragons this size,” said Mother. “Why did it have to grow so BIG?”
“I’m not sure,” said Billy, “but I think it just wanted to be noticed.”

If we take a closer look, this is far more than just a bedtime story. Thinking metaphorically, we all have dragons in our lives. A lot of them. Like Billy’s mother, we refuse to see them even when we’re drowning in them. Some small, like that past due bill or the pile of old clothes you’ve been meaning to get rid of. Then there are bigger dragons like that constantly throbbing pain that you know you should get checked but keep putting off because “it’s not so bad, I feel okay” … for now.
We hide our dragons deep in the closet, under the bed, in stacks of paper, drawers, and big boxes. And when we run out of physical space we bury them deep in our very own psyche. Then, before you know it, debt has overpowered your finances. Now the house is gone. That nagging pain suddenly breaks you and takes you to the hospital where you get the ugly truth about a disease. That ugly addiction that you thought was under control is suddenly too much to ignore and has crept through the cracks into every aspect of your life. Your marriage has deteriorated and you find it gone before your eyes along with the once lively household, when you still had the chance. And like Mr. Bixbee you find yourself wondering, “How did this happen?” The answer to that? “It was the dragon.” The dragon that you refused to acknowledge, the one that kept growing but you managed to maneuver your way around it, the one that got so big to the point you couldn’t deny the fact that there is indeed such thing as a dragon.  

If you want the gold of a meaningful life, the way out is through. We must acknowledge our dragons, muster up the courage to face them, and slay them. It’s either that or to be swallowed by it. Now that there’s still time, choose.
Or else …