Like most people, I often confuse myself between my wishes and my dreams — a wish is usually only a passing thought that most people never act on but a dream is something that captures your heart and spirit. It ignites your imagination and fills you with an unquenchable hope. It becomes something you can’t easily set aside.
Dreams consume your thinking and fuel your excitement and passion. It can happen in a single moment, or it can captivate your thoughts for years. Sometimes when the dream is really big, you embrace it, and somehow it feels like the dream embraces you.
Our dreams are often about experiencing a better life, about achieving greater things … they are pictures we have of the future that reveal a part of our lives that will be greater than the past.
But here’s an important point to consider – it takes courage to dream. Any time you dare to dream, there are risks involved. What if it never happens? What if it costs too much? What if people laugh at you?
Do you remember when you were a child and no dream seemed too big? Some of us thought we would walk on the moon; some dreamed of riding with Roy Rogers; others imagined stepping to the plate in a big-league game. Every one of us, when we were young, had a common trait – we were dreamers. The world hadn’t gotten to us yet to show us that we couldn’t possibly achieve what our hearts longed for. And we were yet still years from realizing that in some cases we weren’t built for achieving our dream.
Eventually we started to let our dreams die. People began to tell us that we couldn’t do the things we wanted. It was impossible. Responsible people don’t pursue their dreams. Settle down, get a job, be dependable. Take care of business, live the mundane, be content.
Is that it? Is that the way things work?
Dreams are worthy pursuits as long as they’re consistent with what matters most to us now. Our values evolve over time, and it’s OK to change our dreams to keep up with this evolution.
When you’re young, you want excitement and adventure. You want to prove yourself and make your loved ones proud. You dream big and work hard. As you age, you’ll probably desire more stability. You’ll seek quiet hours and relaxation. You’ll have a greater need for balance and have more concern for your health. You may also trade in some of your own ambition to support the success of your kids or family members.
These generalizations may not describe how your values will change. Change itself, however, is part of maturing. When you embrace it, you’ll open up to a world of new goals and possibilities.
So don’t be afraid to give up on old dreams to make room for new ones. You may not have the life you dreamed of as a child, but you might end up with one you can enjoy as an adult.
“To practice any art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make your soul grow. So do it” – Kurt Vonnegut
Since starting this blog I did have more time to think about many things in my life. By that I mean making time to self-evaluate. What are those that I am experiencing at the moment or have had previously or those past experiences (regardless of magnitude) that had made me happy? I found out a lot! I also realized that I haven’t been in touched with myself for a long time now. Over the past years I’ve been a slave to my work and the so called social responsibilities which are activities inclined “outwardly” that they eventually sucked all my strength. No time to recharge – back out from everything, go someplace else or do things that could benefit me “inwardly”. It seemed that I have become somewhat a mechanical being (some kind of a robot) just habitually doing things on a daily basis. I have lost the desire to find meaning into what I do. I became one of the too many people nowadays who just continue to survive and had forgotten how to really live – and feel alive.
For this blog, I would like to share one of my fascinations which [I believe] I have not given time to think about for so long a time now. Which, in fact, led me to write about the experiences I shared on my previous blog (click here) and HOPEFULLY on the coming ones.
FACT: I am always fascinated by stories or tell-tales from various people of their adventure journeys into different places. Places where they longed to go to and where they knew that the fulfillment of their deepest yearnings will be satisfied once they’ve been there and enjoyed [or survived] each and every bumps and turns they have had along the way.
Some of the people I know (most of them my friends while others are close acquaintances) are born adventurous (in the real sense of the word). Apparently most of them are also nature-lovers, some vacation-lovers and travelers. They go places and do things that did not only bring smiles of joy to their faces but are also enriching to their inmost beings. Doing such activities radiates and emanates from them that ethereal feeling of deep satisfaction which eventually was also felt by the people around them, myself being one.
I guess it makes real sense, though, that they’re nature/places/travel-lovers to begin with. It explains a lot about their take on every journey – the elation they experienced on each of their “adventures” because they not only intend it to be so but they’re TRULY into it. Besides that, I saw something else which fittingly describes the “well from which such joy and satisfaction springs” so to speak – it’s PASSION.
Yes, I believe so, it’s passion. However, it is the one thing that I UNCONSCIOUSLY DISREGARD and PUT OUT instantly from my mind once felt. And it is for many reasons that I often neglect its bidding. First, is that I do not have the TIME to indulge with it. Second, I particularly do not know the “HOW” to it. Third, I really do not know the means to “SUSTAIN” it, somehow in a manner with consistency.
And the much bigger question is that: If I can muster the courage to pursue it, will I have enough strength of will to enrich it, or better, make it bloom into something worthwhile and beautiful?
Let me be clear that the “WHAT” has always been obviously apparent to me ever since. I know for certain what my passion is. The thing that is predominantly and persistently pushing its way out from deep inside, screaming to be heard and yearning to be satisfied by me. Not so like my friends, writing has always been my passion (going out on adventure or nature trips just second). Since I’ve learned how to read and got fascinated by books early on in life, I had this dream of writing my own book and somehow have it published in my name. However, I have to admit that I have no formal training on writing, even a simple article in that regard is hard for me to produce, let alone to begin with. Intrigued by the word passion, I tried looking for it in several dictionaries and was intrigue all the more to find out later on that nearly all of them connotes romance! If that so, then passion must be pursued above all things and for all its worth! Right? Hahaha.
Anyways, after thorough research, I found one which gives:“Passion is when you put more energy into something than is required to do it. It is more than just enthusiasm or excitement, passion is ambition that is materialized into action to put as much heart, mind, body and soul into something as is possible.” – Urban Dictionary
There it is! It fits my circumstance perfectly well! Metaphorically speaking, if you will – [me] having no experience and background at all about writing other than what was needed to pass through a school education, [pursuing my passion in writing] would only venture me into something that I know would eventually sap all my strength (mentally, physically, probably emotionally too, and God knows what else)! I would be focusing my energy a million times over compared to that of a seasoned and experienced writer. Be that as it may, I am excited to pursue my passion unto wherever it takes me so long as I can find happiness thru it. And I consider blogging as a perfect platform for it. Wish me luck 😉
I’m not expecting much from myself. I don’t know as well how long it will take for me to fulfill my dreams and satisfy my passion. But I’m glad that I know now where to start and what “to have” [passion] to make my life’s journeys memorable and worthwhile.
I will not overthink and overdo things. I’ll just have to enjoy every process that comes along with my journey! One step at a time.
THOUGHT AVENUE: Speak your mind 