dreams

We all, to some extent or another, have dreams. If you don't; please stop reading this blog, find the sharpest object you can, and stab yourself in the eyes.

If you don't have a dream you don't need to see, in fact, if you don't have a dream you don't need to live. 

Maybe I'm making this more dramatic than it needs to be, but maybe not.

Without a dream there is no journey, no path for us to follow in life. 


Without a dream we can't say we're living life, we're more or less occupying the earth and stealing oxygen from the dreamers. 

My dream is to not work a normal job. Ty's dream is to play professional soccer.

Those are two very different and at the same time very similar dreams. They're both dreams that will require some time and effort.

Time and effort, no problem.

But how much time and effort do we have to put into to reach our goals?

What are we willing to sacrifice to get there?

The answer will vary for each person, but in almost all cases you have to be willing to lose a lot. You have to be willing to risk it all in some cases. You can't fear rejection, instead you have to make rejection your motivator. Just because you don't get it the first try doesn't mean it's unattainable.

In Ty's case it will require travelling to Europe for different try-outs. It'll require breaking a culture barrier and being in an unusual setting. It'll require long flights and plenty of sleepless nights. It'll take time.

All good things take time. 


The next question you might ask is, "What if I fail?"

Failure is expected. The Wright brothers didn't fly the first time they tried did they?

How you deal with crashing is what will make or break you.

In my case it might be being turned down by a newspaper, or a publisher. Failure only lasts as long as the despair does. If you accept the fact you have failed and push on, then you never really failed. But if you dwell on the sorrows of failing, then you have successfully allowed failure to manifest inside you. Nobody can tell you that you are a failure. You might not win, you may lose, but that never makes you a failure. Triumphs are decided by you and you alone and failure won't exist as long as you don't want it to. 


How do you know when you've reached the dream?


Trust me, you'll know. When you wake up every morning and can tell yourself you wouldn't wish for anything more, that is when you've reached your dream. Reaching one dream allows for new dreams to grow as well.

Dare to dream, dare to reach those dreams, and dare to replace those attained dreams with new dreams. 


The last thought for dreams is how to live the dream while you're journeying to your dream.

How can we be happy when our dream is still so far out of reach?

For me living the dream while searching for the dream is simple. Live life day by day. If it's blogging from some dumpy apartment so be it. If it's working a part time job to pay for that dumpy apartment, fine. The thought of reaching my dream should keep me going. When I lay down every night and think about what could be, I'm dreaming, and when I'm dreaming, I am happy. If I'm happy, how am I not living the dream? 

NP: Young Forever- Jay-Z