Thoughts on Dreams

Just for a minute, I want to break out of my normal routine here and talk a little bit about dreams and the things that might hold you back from them.  This is something that I have been considering for the last few months, and given certain things that I have witnessed I thought that I could dedicate a moment here to just let everyone know how I felt about this.  (Just in case anyone was curious or felt the same.)

You hear enough during your childhood, to encourage the development of your “dream,” whatever that might be for you, but at the same time, when you consider the type of encouragement you get, you might realize like I did that the “dream” might not have been something that you ever gave serious consideration to.  Not everyone falls into this category.  There are many friends of mine from school that knew early on who they were and what path they wanted to follow in life and stopped at nothing to achieve that.  Then there were others, like myself, that never gave much thought to dreams because it was nothing that you ever thought possible for yourself.

Fast forward to a few years later – here you are, walking down that middle path in life, doing what needs to be done day in and out, paying the bills, doing your job.  You find yourself somehow stuck, like you are on a path that is so surrounded by trees that you don’t realize that there is another way, another path.  Those trees can represent all kinds of obstacles in life, but just thinking about the sheer volume of them in your way can be overwhelming – leaving you with a feeling of suppression.  Some people are so comfortable on this road that they never even realize that there is more outside the forest, outside what they can immediately see right in front of them.  Some people don’t even want to know and hate others for their desire.

I think that one of the most interesting stories is what happens to that person who suddenly discovers that there is another path that they want to travel.  The journey to that discovery, and how they handle the navigation to the other road, is one of the most beautiful things, if you think about it.  There are moments where you might feel so beat down that you just want to give in – surely it is easier to stay where you have been for so long with no problems.  Why take the chance?  Why put yourself through that pain?  There are those that will do their best to stand in your way, those that never understand what you know within you that is larger than their disbelief and disdain.

So, now you are at the crossroads.  Which path will you take?  It is my hope that anyone who is considering this that they will break away from the safe and well known and take that chance, that new path.