Following your dreams

Amica

I'm considering throwing caution to the wind and going after what I really want. This would mean risking -looking like an idiot, -failing, -becoming poor. It would mean giving up the career path I'm on (which gives me a better shot at achieving job/financial security) to go after the work I really want. I may know the first step, but I don't have a good clear plan of how to get there. Because of that, I took the sensible/safer road. Seven years later, I still have regular swells of regret. I tell myself that my decision was a good one and that I'm happy with it but my mind still continually searches for some solution that I havent found yet. I envy people I know who are following their dreams or doing something close to what I want. I try to fill the hole with other projects and hobbies that distract me but never fill that need, and no amount of logic quiets that voice/feeling/wish.

This may sound like a thread for Personal Issues but the purpose of this thread is not to ask for advice. I want to ask about other peoples' experiences. Do you have a dream? Have you ever experienced a conflict of this kind between going after what you really want and doing what was more sensible/safe? What did you decide and how has it worked out for you? Is "following your dreams" a luxury or a necessity?

Littlekittylou

Amica wrote: »

I'm considering throwing caution to the wind and going after what I really want. This would mean risking -looking like an idiot, -failing, -becoming poor. It would mean giving up the career path I'm on (which gives me a better shot at achieving job/financial security) to go after the work I really want. I may know the first step, but I don't have a good clear plan of how to get there. Because of that, I took the sensible/safer road. Seven years later, I still have regular swells of regret. I tell myself that my decision was a good one and that I'm happy with it but my mind still continually searches for some solution that I havent found yet. I envy people I know who are following their dreams or doing something close to what I want. I try to fill the hole with other projects and hobbies that distract me but never fill that need, and no amount of logic quiets that voice/feeling/wish.

This may sound like a thread for Personal Issues but the purpose of this thread is not to ask for advice. I want to ask about other peoples' experiences. Do you have a dream? Have you ever experienced a conflict of this kind between going after what you really want and doing what was more sensible/safe? What did you decide and how has it worked out for you? Is "following your dreams" a luxury or a necessity?

I want to be a writer. I am trying to follow that as best I can.

I am what I am. I can't be perfect I have the type of personality I have.

I write everyday. I have learnt from past experience you have to be ruthless with your time and head space. You obviously need to support yourself whilst you get there.

You need to be in a healthy place to follow a dream and have supportive people. Anyone who drains you needs to go.

You need to sacrifice other time consuming activities. Like .... the internet :rolleyes: I was doing well up until a few days ago!

I am who I am. I am ruthless when it comes to my dreams. Thankfully they don't involve hurting anyone.

But it's more than your dreams and what you achieve. It's your growth. You wanted something and you got it. You made it happen. It was not set out by anyone but you. No one told you to do it but you. It's yours. No one can take that from you.

Mr. J

I think it was Brandon "Bug" Hall - who played Alfalfa in the 1994 classic movie The Little Rascals - that once said...


"We are all, each of us, standing between the person we are and the person we want to be. There is no shame in choosing the latter."


Brandon Hall
Played Alfalfa in the 1994 classic movie The Little Rascals.

beks101

I am a writer. To my core. More than I am a talker or a thinker.
It's how I express myself in my truest form, it's how I make sense of the world.

I write every day. Countless work emails, personal emails, blog entries, diary entries, boards posts. It's not what I get paid to do for a living. I am a TV producer for a big American network so it plays into it in a big way; but not to the extent I dream of.

But I'm getting there. It's not a goal; it's who I am. Some day I may get paid to do it; perhaps on a meagre scale, as a freelance journalist or some other fashion that plays into the reality of my life and my career. Or perhaps I'll set aside time to write full-time, get a book on the shelves; teach a creative writing course.

Who knows. My point is simply this: don't aspire to become something or someone. Be it. Right now; right this minute. Live it, breathe it, let it embody the essence of your being. Let it become the primary force in your life. Let it be your language.

If you think about the ingredients that go into creating a success story in the work place. Let's say, aspiring to a promotion, a new job title. You don't plod away blindly in your lesser role with these distant dreams of "some day...". You fit yourself into that new role before an interview is even on the horizon. You make it known and seen that you are ready, you are worthy, you are the person for that position before it's even upon you. You dress like someone in that position would. You act, speak, work, behave, become that thing you want so badly, to the point where there couldn't be any other choice; you are the person for this job.

My point is, become it. Whatever it is you want. Let it embody you. Let it be a part of your day, an integral part of your daily routine. If it's your passion, if it explains so much of who you are and what motivates you to your very core; the outcome will be inevitable. And proving that to yourself makes proving it to the world a piece of cake.

Pokiedots

This time last year I left a permanent full time job to take a leap of faith in myself and follow a dream.
Over the past year, I have been poor, I have been stressed, I have been over worked, underpaid, underworked, not paid at all! BUT it was the very best decision I have ever made because I have also been happier, more fulfilled, challenged, rewarded and proud than I have ever been up to this point.
My advice would be to go for it, trust your gut, live the dream!

LenaClaire

This isn't quite the same as where I think you are coming from but... I left my job, my home country and my family to move to Ireland and marry a man I had been dating via long distance relationship. I had no job lined up and no fall back plan.

That was several years ago, now I have a kick a$$ job that is way better than the one I nervously gave up, I have a new family and I am have much more self confidence after taking that leap.

It wasn't easy, it did take a while to find a job, and I still get really homesick sometimes, but taking that risk was what I needed to move my life forward.