Why did you get up this morning? Was it because of your alarm clock? Your dog needed to go on a walk? Maybe it was for a paycheck, or perhaps it was because you were expected to be somewhere at a certain time? Why is it that we rarely wake up to face our day with our dreams in our pocket and an eye on the horizon?
I am currently facing a dilemma about my future. Which way to go? Which path I am going to choose is not what this post is going to be about. No, instead I wanted to talk about something I pondered as I leaned against the car pumping gas this week. As I looked out over the rows and rows of stopped cars waiting for the green light I noticed the unhappy faces I saw behind the wheels. I wondered to myself “why.” Why do we do this? What makes these people sit in this traffic everyday? Why do they go to work everyday? Or better yet, why do they continue to do things that (seemingly) make them unhappy?
This question is not one of connivance but of necessity. We only get one life, just one. Life is a fragile thing and at times the end comes in the blink of an eye. We are not guaranteed tomorrow. We do not know what the future holds. So shouldn’t our lives be spent in the pursuit of greater things than just chasing another paycheck? If we could do anything, anything at all, wouldn’t we rather be chasing our dreams?
Yes I know, you are saying to yourself, “Teller, life isn’t all sparkles and rainbows.” I am not saying it should be. Bills need to be paid and people have to eat after all. We need to go to work so we can pay our rent and send the kids to school. I am not suggesting that we all suddenly quit our jobs to climb the world’s ten tallest mountains. But that doesn’t mean that you can’t do both does it? Pursuing your career doesn’t mean you have to give up on your dreams.
You see the majority of Americans, come home, eat, sleep then rise, rinse, repeat. Why! When asked this, most people just give you a confused look as if you just took away their favorite toy. It’s rare to hear someone say they work so that they can travel to a foreign country next summer. Or to say they work so they can afford the paints and supplies for their next mural. Isn’t that what our money should be used for? Our dreams. That is what I want us to be, a nation of dreamers. Not just a nation looking to have bigger houses and shinier cars and more and more debt, but one that is full of people that dare to pursue the things that they love.
Why did you wake up this morning? Was it because you had too? Or was it because today is the day you will take one more step towards your goals. One more step towards your dreams. One more step further than you have ever gone before. One more step towards being who you were born to be. Why did you wake up this morning?