Most
people have at least one of those crazy dreams, they can never get out of their
heads and yet still never attempt to fulfil them. I am not speaking of things
like bungee jumping but of life changing dreams like opening a coffee shop or
moving abroad or changing career. Being a person with many dreams myself I
cannot help to wonder: Why? Why are there so many people who never make the
slightest attempt to fulfil those dreams and
instead settle for an average yet unsatisfying life?
For me this blog
is tiny step to fulfilling one of my dreams, which is to make a living writing.
Despite this I haven't published a post in about 6 months. Presently I am
working on the translation of my novel but I have to admit to myself I am not
pushing it as much as I could. So this made me think: Why? I still feel that
this is my biggest dream and yet I am not pursuing it as hard as I could. The
answer to that was surprisingly simple.
The subtext of
those dreams is always the same: "I think I would be much happier,
if...." We believe that if these dreams come true our life would be better
and at least some of our problems would disappear. So what if we manage to
reach our goals, only to realize that life is still as complicated as before?
That we still have those moments where we feel like everything is too much and
that our whole life is just wrong. We work hard to achieve something and
realize that nothing has changed. Wouldn't that be more frustrating than just
settle for our life and let the dreams be just that dreams?
The reality is
that most of us are not afraid of failing in pursuing our dreams but we are
afraid of succeeding only to realize that those dreams are not what we were
hoping for.
Does this mean we
should stop pursuing our dreams? No! Dreams are important because they are what
drives humanity in general and what brings us forward. For instance if it
hadn't been for Edison's dream to invent a light bulb where would we all be
now? That is hasn't been done before, doesn't mean it is not possible.
What we have to do
however is to stop using unfulfilled dreams as an excuse for being unhappy. We
also need to have realistic expectations of our dreams. Don't expect anything
to solve your problems for good, because there is nothing like that in this
world. For instance many women think that they are single because of their
looks and that they would be dating if they were thinner, taller, had a smaller
nose etc. While I sometimes have those thoughts too, I can tell you: That is nonsense!
Otherwise there wouldn't be single supermodels, right?
Dreams cannot do
miracles for your happiness but pursuing them defines you as person and as long
as you make sure that your expectations are realistic you won't be disappointed
when you reach your goals. But don't forget to live in the present while
working on your dreams.
