We live in an age full of distractions. Youtube, Facebook, Television, Video Games; not to mention real life things like jobs and bills. All of it seems to create a never ending pile of things for us to do. It has become easy for us to take our dreams, put them up on a shelf and say, “Tomorrow, I promise.” Our dreams, our desires, are only going to come about if we are willing to place something else on that shelf.
When asked what we would give up to achieve our dreams most people would probably pronounce with great vigor “anything!” We long for our dreams; we desire to achieve them so much that we would give anything. Yet our reality is very different from the pronouncement. “Anything” seems to mean anything that does not bother, or hinder us. Something that doesn’t take away from our fun or distract from our Downton Abby binge on Netflix. Oh yes anything. Anything but that.
Why do we do this? Why do put off the things we desire to do? In my uneducated opinion I believe it is because we look at the entire picture and say it is too big, too much to handle. It is easier to sit down and relax. Yet it can be done. Somewhere right now, someone is achieving their dream. They didn’t get to this point all at once. They didn’t sit down and everything came to them as if by magic. No, they are reaching the end of a long, hard fought journey. One that you can begin right now if you are willing to go for it.
Listen, change is hard. Big change is harder still. If you want to walk a thousand miles, you need to start off with a single step. Then another. Followed by another. With each step things grow a bit easier, each step taking us further than the last. This is how a dream is achieved, by thousands of little steps. Instead of looking at the total of what must be done look at what can be done today. Spend just thirty minutes doing something that brings you closer to your dream. Just thirty minutes. Paint, sing, write, bake, whatever it is you want to do, do it. It’s time to stop procrastinating and go for something that really matters to you.
The time to start chasing after our dreams is not tomorrow, it is right now. Will you let another year go by without coming closer to achieving your goals? Will you let idleness rob you of what you truly want to achieve? Or will this be the year where you get up off the couch? Will this be the year in which you go after your dreams no matter what? This could be the year where you achieved more than you ever dared. It all starts with today, with action. Our dreams cannot be achieved on their own. They must be carried by us, the dreamers.