letsloveothers

“I want to be an astronaut Mom.”

“That’s great Sally! Aim for the stars. I know you can do it.”

As children our dreams are encouraged. Then there comes the day when we are told to grow up. Decide what you want to do with the rest of your life. Stop dreaming!

So you take the advice. You abandon your dreams so you can seek the American dream. As time goes by, a suffocating emptiness grows. Thoughts of what might have been haunt your waking moments. Until one day you ask yourself. “Is this all there is?”

Today individuals are living longer. Regrettably, many of these lives are more a testament to the simple act of breathing than purpose and destiny.

Many have lost the ability, even the desire to dream. To believe that tomorrow will be better because of their contributions.

Perhaps this is why we can identify with the fictional characters Don Quixote and Walter Mitty. Individuals living mundane lives that one day decide it is not enough.

Kissing the world, as they know it goodbye. Courageously pursuing something greater than personal recognition, power and wealth. Choosing to live life instead of watching it pass them by.

What if dreaming was never discouraged, even into adulthood? How different our world would be!

• People would be excited and passionate about their careers and lives.
• Authenticity and transparency would be the standard for all relationships.
• Originality and wisdom would abound.
• Solutions, instead of temporary fixes would be the norm.
• The world would be filled with beauty.

This passage from The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha resonates with me. Painting a vivid picture of what happens to your soul when you say no to dreaming.

All I know is that while I’m asleep. I’m never afraid, and I have no hopes, no struggles, no glories. And bless the man who invented sleep. A cloak over all human thought. Food that drives away hunger. Water that banishes thirst. Fire that heats up cold. Chill that moderates passion. And finally, universal currency with which all things can be bought. Weight and balance that brings the shepherd and the king, the fool and the wise to the same level. There’s only one bad thing about sleep as far as I’ve ever heard, and that is that it resembles death. Since there’s very little difference between a sleeping man and a corpse.

Like all the Don Quixote’s and Walter Mitty’s of the past and present, you have a choice. Choose a living death or dream the impossible dream!

Be a VOICE in the deafening sound of sameness!