Sneak Up On Your Dreams

The one thing about dreams is that they’re dreams, not reality.  They’re these imaginary situations that we hold onto for various reasons.  They often make us feel good when we’re feeling like the life we’re in is uncomfortable or miserable or just not what we want.  Our dreams are our light; they’re our hope.  Our dreams are meant to give us something to cling to and strive for.

That’s a lot for an imaginary situation to have to live up to.  When I was getting to the end of my school year, when I would be leaving my full-time job and switching over to living my dream, people always asked me if I was excited. I told them that I was excited (and scared), but that the biggest thing I felt was a bit sad. No matter what happened with my dream, no matter whether I loved it or hated it, it would no longer be a dream: it would be reality.

No reality holds the same meaning as a dream.  Dreams are better than reality, they don’t involve sicknesses or bug bites or long afternoons where you don’t want to work, but really should.  They are imaginary bliss.  No matter how perfect your dream turns out to be, once it’s a reality, it’s not a dream any more.

What do you expect from your dreams?  Are your dreams things that you really want to achieve or are they there to be thought of in times of misery?  Sometimes, when I’m really stressed, I think of getting a couple million dollars and never having to work or worry about retirement funds again.  It’s a fantasy that can make me feel comfortable for a short time.  I don’t expect to achieve the dream and I don’t really spend any effort working towards it.  The reality is that I have enough money.  I have to work and will have to work for many years, but it’s not a difficult job and I enjoy it. I have the flexibility that I want and am not willing to give up anything I have now to work towards a couple million dollars.  It’s my comfort dream.  It’s just for fun.

Don’t expect your comfort dreams to just come true.  They could be called fantasies instead.  Also, remember that achieving real dreams will probably not make you completely happy.  They will become real life.  Dreams can make life better, but they can’t necessarily make you happy.

I had very specific dreams like having children and buying a house. I’ve achieved those and they are great, but they don’t make me happy every minute of every day.  This doesn’t mean you should give up your dreams, but it means you should have realistic expectations of what they can do for you.  Also, continue working on findings ways to make yourself happy inside regardless of how your life is going.

I got some of my ideas about time, money and energy form the burgeoning Slow Movement. There are people all over the world who are consciously working on slowing down life, being less work-obsessed and money-centered. People who are trying to spend extra time and energy on the food they eat and the way they spend their days.

There were many people in the beginning of the last century who saw all the new technological advances as (keys) to building a life that was centered around leisure instead of work. What happened, though, was that instead of letting the technology serve us and make our lives easier and more comfortable, we let the devices drive us to have more and more. People spend more and more time working so that they can earn the money to buy the devices that make their lives easier.

What if we cut out the middle person and just made our lives easier? I try to ride my bike everywhere I need to go. It takes much longer, but I use less gas, buy less stuff (because I have to get everything home on little baskets attached to my bike) and feel much more relaxed all the time because I’ve had a nice long bike ride. I don’t need most of the stress-reducers that others do.

Sometimes creating our dreams requires creativity. I was moving forward attempting to create a part-time writing career while doing two other jobs and feeling stressed out. For some reason, it just occurred to me one day to try writing out a budget with just my part-time job. I was able to eliminate day care and a variety of conveniences, such as paying for a gym, which created a very doable budget.

I have my budget all written out in Excel and I go over it an over it cehckgin to make sure that my assumptions are correct. I think I am amazed that downsizing my epxenses could make such a difference in my daily life. I also felt guilty in the beginning. I felt like I was cheating, off riding my bike during the day, hanging out in cafes instead of working at a “regular” job. Over time I realized that there are many creative ways to set up your life and others could choose my way as well.

I like to call it “creative living.” Think of your ultimate goal, your perfect daily routine and then try to brainstorm many different ways to get there. Some people want to travel. There are many ways to travel on the cheap. Some people want to live in a certain place. There are ways to live in places without renting. What about working in exchange for a room? There are often alternatives to ways of getting what you want. Is there something you want that you could get in a different way than you think?