Where Do Dreams Go?

When we’re young, we have lots of dreams.

We dream of doing grand things.

We dream of having uncommon experiences.

We dream of being something special.

We’re not content to follow the herd.

We’re not content to live the half-life of the everyday person.

A life that is neither good nor bad.

A monochrome life where we just get by.

Then work, family, and responsibilities happen.

Then we slip into the easy routine of the everyday.

Into the easy flow of the practical.

“We’ve got to be realistic,” we say.

We have kids to care for.

A mortgage to pay.

And like that, dreams get pushed to the background.

Pushed so far back that we have soon half-forgotten that they exist.

This is the scenario that Luke, the protagonist of my novel ‘The Call of the Silver Cockatoo’, faces.

Married with two kids and a mortgage, he has shoved aside his old dreams of becoming an artist to make way for a more pragmatic career in architecture.

And he has almost made peace with this when he bumps into the great flame of his teenage years on a family holiday to Bangkok.

After that, his past comes crashing back, and he realizes that he has become the very person he always made fun of as a youth, the very person he always swore he would never become.

This encounter with his teenage crush sets off a chain reaction of events, after which the walls of his meticulously crafted life begin to crumble.

While Luke’s story might be fictional, in my work as a Reiki teacher, I see a lot of people resign themselves to the 9-5, to a life that doesn't resonate.

And as the years tick by, it becomes harder for them to escape the pull of everyday practicalities.

Many dream of becoming healers, dream of doing something that would light them up.

But never quite believing it could be possible, they simply do their best to push their dreams aside and forget them.

Of course, breaking free from our everyday responsibilities isn't always easy.

But thanks to the Internet, thanks to our ability to communicate worldwide, to connect to people even in tiny niche markets, it is almost always doable.

Just not always doable quickly.

Typically, we need to labour for some time – maybe even years – before we can earn enough to make a living off our passion.

But we're all going to be somewhere in 5 or 10 years.

Life will keep marching forward.

So the question is, where are we going to be?

The same place as now?

Or doing something with heart?

Something that matters to us?

Something that has innate meaning.

Something we would love to do even if we weren't being paid to do it.

There Will Be Resistance

Naturally, when you set to building a more meaningful future, you'll encounter resistance.

And much of that resistance will come from friends and family.

They will tell you that your dreams are too hard.

That they're unrealistic.

And if they are your partner, they may even tell you that you have to think about more than just yourself.

But what, truly, is the alternative?

Die a slow death on the inside?

Slowly come to resent friends, family and partner because you feel they are holding you back?

No, you need to be brave.

You need to take the leap.

You need to get yourself on the path to your dreams.

You need to do whatever is needed today so that in three years’ time, in five years’ time, you will have created the foundation to live true to yourself, to earn a living doing something meaningful.

And if you take the long view, the long approach, you can make this happen without turning your current world upside down.

Rather, you simply add to it bit by bit.

You build a secondary life while you continue to do the necessary in your present one.

You ever so calmly create the infrastructure to seamlessly transition over to a new life.

A life where you'll be more alive.

A life in which the real you can truly shine.

A life that your partner, family and loved ones will one day say is the best thing to ever happen to you.

So if anything in this article resonates.

If it stirs something within you.

Then it’s time to figure out when you are going to start living your dreams.

And as the saying goes: If not now, when?

Note: If you’re looking for some inspiration on the journey, check out my novel, ‘The Call of the Silver Cockatoo’. You can get it from Amazon (or on Audible ), and the Kindle version is currently on special for just .99 cents.

Article by Jeremy O'Carroll

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