The Courage to Pursue your Dreams
I can’t imagine life without dreams. It would be a dark and boring place. Dreams spark our creativity, foster our imagination and help us deal with difficult times. Also, they allow us to envision possibilities, so we can embark on new adventures. When I was a child I escaped into my dream world because I had to deal with abandonment. I didn’t have the tools to cope with my sadness, so I found comfort knowing I could be a princess or warrior. I’ve always been a very creative and imaginative person but when I became a mom at a young age, and life threw some major obstacles at me, my creativity was sucked into a Black Hole. For two decades I was busy being a mom (hoping I did a good job as a mom), a wife, getting a degree, working shitty and meaningless jobs to pay the bills and letting the daily rut steal my positive spirit. I was secretly dreaming about reinventing myself, maybe start my own business, but I was afraid to imagine new possibilities because being in my comfort zone felt safe.
The people you surround yourself with can either help you find the courage to pursue your dreams or make you doubt yourself. I wanted to start a blog for a long time, mostly because writing can be a great outlet for emotional pain, but also to share my stories, knowledge and wisdom with other people. One of the biggest obstacles people face when they want to pursue their dreams is a lack of courage and self-esteem. Every time an idea would pop up in my head I would immediately dispute it. I thought “Why would people want to read my blog?”, “Other people are so much better in writing”, “There are so many blogs out there, the world doesn’t need another blog”. Well, I was more successful in talking myself out of starting a blog than convincing myself to do it. It took years, a series of challenging times (the pandemic included) and the right people to compel me to follow my dreams.
Here is some advice if you are too scared to follow your dreams:
Don’t let other people tell you what you can and cannot do. You are the captain of your ship and, therefore, are allowed to navigate into any direction.
Living with regret of not having done something you were passionate about is worse than failure.
Surround yourself with people who believe in you and support your dreams.
If you don’t know what you are doing, that’s ok. You will learn as you go, which will give you opportunities to improve your ideas.
Ignore that little voice inside your head telling you bad things about yourself. It’s your own insecurity speaking to you, which has nothing to do with reality.
Allow yourself to be excited about your new endeavor. Who wants to watch the same movie every day? Life is about reinventing ourselves, trying out new things, getting out of our comfort zone, pursuing our passion, fostering our creativity, and personal growth.
If your dream doesn’t produce the outcome you wanted, be happy you were brave enough to pursue it, but don’t dwell on the failure. Move on and find your new passion project!
Whatever it is you are dreaming about I hope you will find the courage to pursue your dreams. I will be your biggest advocate! : )
