Day Dreamer Achiever
I am a dreamer.
I dream about what I want to be when I grow up and yes I am aware I’m approaching 30 thank you. I dream about what I can achieve. I dream about how different opportunities will impact my life. I dream about my dream home. I dream about the beautiful life I get to look back on when I’m rocking away at eighty something, still dreaming about what I want to do when I grow up. I could probably make daydreaming an actual profession I do it so much. We often hear that if you work your dream job you won’t work a day in your life which is a fair point. But it can take awhile to snatch your dream job.
My ultimate dream job is to be a writer. A full time fiction writer; creating stories and characters that are relatable and irresistible to an audience. The kind of stories that make you cry at the end simply because you feel like you are parting with a friend as you close the book for the last time. That’s the dream.
The reality, I work full time as an academic advisor at a local university. Sounds boring in comparison, I know. At first glance that doesn’t fit the dream. But it does. The students I see whether high achieving or not are bright and inspiring. The students I see that are struggling due to life’s obstacles inspire me to do more, to be better. When they tell me their dreams I believe that I can achieve my dreams because there is something about that young dream that has yet to be tarnished by what we call in academia “the real world” and its beautifully inspiring. So, every day and every student meeting I get a little closer to my dream. I connect with other faculty and staff and learn from them. Most people in the workforce don’t just do their jobs, but that is often how we define people. She is a doctor, professor, lawyer, assistant, SAHM - but in all of those jobs there are people dreaming the bigger dream. Turning dreams into reality is defined by how much work you are willing to put into achieving your dream. Don’t beat up your day job and make that the reason you don’t achieve your dreams - that job feeds you, takes care of your family, and allows the opportunities for your dream to come to life. You may not be working your dream job, but your dream is there in every job.
Take a step back. Look at your dream then look at your job. And let’s clarify that no dream is unrealistic. I used to be embarrassed to say that I want to be a writer because it seemed unrealistic - but I thought that way because I was not actively doing anything to make it happen so in that case yeah, its not realistic. The only aspect that makes dreams unrealistic is to dream without doing the work. To expect results because you put in about 8 hours a day dreaming the dream, while that is fun it won’t get you far. Find ways to live your dream in everything you do.
Let’s say you’re an accountant who wants to be a blogger. First of all thank you for the work you do because people like me look at numbers and instantly forget how to add and subtract. But also, why can’t the number oriented accountant be the wordsmith blogger. You can and maybe that is exactly how you start blogging by talking about what you know, accounting and how that relates to everyone's life because it does. This is just one example. It’s all perspective when it comes to living your dreams.
Stop putting yourself in a one size fits all it doesn’t look good on you - jump into the different sizes that fit just you.
I want to be a fiction writer, right, so I use my day job for inspiration and I feed that inspiration by writing something every day. I am practicing my craft, drafting my first book. I don’t have to be a published writer today to start living my dream, but I do have to work so that one day I will accomplish my dream. I stopped keeping my dream in the clouds and buckled it into the passenger seat beside me. Safety first, life is a bumpy ride.
Let your dream live through all that you do. Get your dream off the back burner and allow it a spot in your daily life.
