You believe the lies you’ve told yourself. Now that dream you held long ago has been pushed down, buried so deep that much of the time you forget that you ever had it. When it rises to the surface, you release the excuses: I have no time, I don’t have the proper equipment or skills, I don’t have space, I live in the wrong part of the country or the world. When I’ve saved more, when the children are older, the list goes on. It is easier this way, you tell yourself, as you continue to create a false narrative.
It’s all a load of malarkey.
What are your dreams? Big, small, simple or complex it does not matter.
A mohawk at forty, to walk to the end of the block, an Indiana Jones fedora, warrior chief tattoo, a camper van or a beach house. A job in a completely different field. To live abroad, to move out of your parents’ basement, to move into your parents’ basement. Whatever the dream, no matter how big it is or how crazy your loved ones, friends or your second cousin Buck thinks it is, it does not matter. It only matters that you stop dreaming, make a plan, and then make that plan a priority.
You don’t need to know every detail; a rough plan will do. Once you make it a priority take small steps. Do not decide after reading this that next week you are going to quit your job, sublet your apartment and move into your Yaris so that you can create your version of an Endless Summer. You’ve hit the priority mark but you seem to have skipped over the planning and small steps piece.
It is going to be harder than you think. You’ve got to have determination, chutzpah. There are no overnight success stories. We just wish there were because we like instant gratification and overnight successes make for catchier news headlines. There will be setbacks and failures, but you’ll need to keep going.
My father was fond of passing out No Whining mugs to people he worked with. He saw them as a reminder to buckle down and work hard. I have the one he kept at his office and I’ve been using it a lot lately as I once again work at my dream of making writing a priority. I also pull it out when the darkness of depression greets me first thing in the morning. A silent shot of encouragement.
Quietly Making Noise 