I have read, watched on television and movies, and heard from peripheral conversations and been told, that you need to do something that will support the things that matter most to you.
The above seems to make sense on the surface, but what no one ever explains, or at least not in a way that makes sense to a mind as neurotic as mine, is that it doesn't just mean to make money and have a family.
When we are young, and our minds are ever staring into the vast expanse of space and how one day we will explore it, or dreaming of the limelight and the rock star or movie star we will become, we are all told to have a backup plan. Something to fall back on when our dreams inevitably fail. Yes, I say 'inevitably' because the dreams we had when we were young slowly get chipped away at by parents, relatives, friends, teachers, strangers, and more all trying to do good by us, but all they do is make us feel like what we want, what we have to one day offer, are not good enough. We are told stories of young, wannabe starlet runaways to Hollywood, the girls who answered the call of whispering fame and fortune never to be heard from again. The cautionary tales of woe, and how we will all end up on the same path, so we need a backup plan.
Here's the first thing - a backup plan, time spent doing something, anything else than pursuing our dreams to make those around us feel more comfortable with our decisions, does nothing but take time away from what we genuinely want to pursue. And that is true; we should only pursue our dreams if we have a way to achieve them.
Then the sad reality hits. We are broke. We have no money. The whole starving artist cliche becomes real, and we live it. We spend every last dollar, not spent on rent and ramen, trying to make our dreams come true. Without a way to market, promote, get your name known, all you are doing is repeatedly spinning your wheels with the same crowd. Do not get me wrong, the same group that is there 5 or 10 years later is lovely, and that's why we do it, but unless that same crowd consists of hundreds of thousands of people, you need a more significant base to survive.
That all brings me back around to the topic of the piece, something to fall back on. Now I know that as an adult, we should see the faults of those in our past. But we always look at our past through the same eyes we lived it. A dream should never be crushed by being told to have a backup plan. Instead, a dream should be supported by finding a path that will help you achieve your ultimate goal. Something I wish I were told far sooner in life.
Have your dream of writing and selling tens of thousands of books, having started with a zero fan base. Have our dream of gracing the silver screen. But find a way to get there. Do something that others would consider a career, something that others would consider an end goal, and use it as a stepping stone. Trade stocks on the exchange, so you have your money to finance your movie. Become some internet startup that makes a quick million so you can promote your books and fund a tour.
Understand that spending time away from your dream to achieve your goal better is not time wasted on something else, but time spent building up a way to make it all a reality. Because finding a way to support your dream to make it manifest is worlds away from having a backup plan.
Have your dream, whether it be a family with 2.5 and a white picket fence or playing under the limelight. Finding the best path to your goals is not always the most direct path. Of course, with any endeavor, emotional support and encouragement go a long way, too. That, though, is for another time.
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