Too many of us are not living our dreams because we are living our fears.
Les Brown
Are you living your dreams or living out your fears?
If I had to make an educated bet it would be the latter rather than the former. That is what a statistical analysis of the question would tell us. Living out our fears is far more probable than living our dreams.
When we are young we are told no a lot. We hear don’t, you can’t, you shouldn’t, why did you, how could you, and all those little peckish jabs at our self worth add up over time. Most of us are not very resilient to combat them and believe in something grater than ourselves. Our dreams break down, and we subject ourselves to our greatest fears. We spend our lives looking out for, and preventing terrible things from happening to us.
We could play the blame game. We could sit here right now and release a deeply penetrating sigh. We could exclaim how unfair it is that we weren’t encouraged more, that we didn’t have more support, that we are where we are in a world that is what it is.
We could do that, or we could decide to stop this ride that we’re on. We could get off and begin to live out our dreams. We could and we can, although it certainly won’t be easy.
We have spent many years living a life with our eyes cast downward, instead of a life that dares to dream. Dream of things that only exist in our imagination. A life that is foreign and strange to everyone, unless we make them see. Unless we tenaciously show everyone who we are and reveal the dreams that bubble deep inside of us.
Don’t bother answering wether you are living your dreams or living out your fears. In a sense it really doesn’t matter. It might be a fascinating psychological or sociological adventure but it won’t do anything for you in the future.
What is most important is that you are here. No matter how you got here. It’s important because you are not done, not by a long shot. It is never too late, and you have what it takes to dream out loud.
Spend the rest of your dreams living your dreams. Take grater risks. Work harder and more purposefully in order to live more meaningfully. Don’t let your fears, your mistakes, or your distorted image of who you are stop you from doing what you need to do next.
You need to live your dreams.
Identify what they are. Write them down. Post your dream where you will see it several times a day, like a bathroom mirror or the main screen of your computer or phone. This seem like a natural habitat for a notice of purpose.
Consider yourself served with a court order. You are hereby put on notice that you are spending far too much time on fears that never come true, and far too little time on your dreams which with effort and persistence want to become real.
Only you can choose where you go from here. But I think you know where you need to go. I think you know what steps you need to take. So go where you need to go. Your future is not defined by the past. What you do today will give birth to who you’ll become tomorrow.
