Many times our dreams are trumped by more practical things. A lot of what I aspire to in life, and the ways I go about achieving them, don’t always make sense on paper.
Dreams aren’t practical. Or convenient. Nothing worth having in life is.
Sometimes– perhaps, many times– we have to do the practical thing. We have to set our needs aside. But I believe the true desires of our hearts will continue to surface. They are asking us to figure out a way to make room for them, to help bring them out of the dream realm and into reality.
And sometimes, we try to make it happen. And it just doesn’t. And other times the blessings seem to fall into our lap. I’m beyond trying to figure out why that is… I’ve just learned that my heart (not my emotions) always tells the truth.
Of course, this is all just my opinion. I’d love your thoughts on this. In the meantime, I wanted to share this feature article I had the opportunity to write for Hybrid Mom. In doing so, I was able to reconnect with how much I love telling other people’s stories, as much as I enjoy telling my own.
This couple found themselves sinking under the weight of their financial obligations. Facing foreclosure, they did a “crazy thing.” It definitely wasn’t practical. But it’s pretty darn awesome, if you ask me. Click here to read their story.
Hi Angie,
What an uplifting story you wrote on Hybrid Mom. Intriguing writing. My fav line, “My brother said, ‘You guys have done it. You’ve set yourselves free.’”
To me, that’s what dreams put into reality do, set us free from whatever constraints we wrap around us.
I do think that many folks use practical and responsible as ways to put their dreams on the life back-burner. If you break down practical and responsible, you may notice that the voices in your head telling you to be responsible and/or practical were inherited from elders, from tradition, from institutions.
Who says X or Y or Z has to be that way?
Maybe we need to redefine practical to mean doing things that make our dreams come true rather than stomp on them.
Fun, thought-provoking post!
G.
Giulietta, I always appreciate your fun, thought-provoking comments. I recently had to make a decision that wasn’t practical, but with the intention of (borrowing your line) making my dream come true, rather than stomp on it.
What an inspiring story!
Did you happen to see Tony Robbins’ new show “Breakthrough” last night, BTW? I was kind of disappointed. It was also about a couple facing foreclosure, but instead of encouraging them to follow their dreams, he basically forced them into the first jobs they could find, even though they weren’t ideal or necessarily what the couple wanted.
I didn’t see that, Abby. But it sounds like a bummer. I know that we can sometimes we can be blinded by our dreams… I don’t think it’s wise to rack up a lot of debt (if we can help it) but I loved what the couple in the article said: even if they lost their house, they were proud of the books they had written, they felt that had created something bigger than themselves. They were okay with the worst case scenario and proud of the message they were sending their daughters.
Very much reminds me of the book Steering by Starlight by Martha Beck. Talks about how your soul knows what it wants and when you start listening to it, the universe aligns to support your dreams. Not practical, or easy, but most certainly worth the effort!
“Dreams aren’t practical. Or convenient. Nothing worth having in life is.”
That was one of the most profound things I’ve read in quite a while, and so true. Loved this, Angie!