The Dreams That Run Away From Us

Have I ever mentioned that I once had this great dream of becoming a dancer? No? LOL, well, that’s probably because that has never been a dream of mine 😛 I just thought it’d make a funny intro!

Anyways, I was going to approach this from a very different angle.  But I gave it much thought and I realised that the initial approach I was going to take didn’t sit right with me.

So, why do we chase our dreams? The first answer that popped into my head when I asked myself that question was simple. Fulfilment. I mean, we chase our dreams because they bring us fulfilment.

People chase after their dreams for a truck load of reasons, but at the end of the day, I think it all boils down to wanting more for themselves and more from life.

I have never had a “big” dream. I never wanted to be the president of the United States of America, or cure AIDs. That has never been me. All I have ever really wanted to do has been to help people. Simple and short. In fact, at this given point in time I can’t even tell you that I have a specific dream I am chasing, I can only tell you that I want to create a space where I am able to help people who need it.But that\’s me though  and a story for another day

Moving on … a lot of people have dreams that they have chased and are still chasing after, and it leads back to the question of why? Everyone I asked this to, had pretty much the same answer for me. For some, it’s the feeling of achievement that comes with knowing you had a dream, you went after it and you achieved it.

For others, it’s the thing with wanting to be known, with wanting to be better than the next person and with wanting to have more. And there, my friends, lies the problem.

Now, before you jump into my comment box, hear me out. There is nothing wrong with chasing after your dreams, but there is a line. There is a line between being content and being complacent.

A lot of us to an extent are insatiable. We tell ourselves we need to have more because nothing in this life is secure. We tell ourselves we have to achieve more because you know how it is, one day you can be at the top and the next at the bottom. So we push and we push for more, we chase our dreams so much so that we get to a point where it appears our dreams are running away from us. We tell people that we aren’t doing too much we simply aren’t being complacent with our lives and our achievements and that is why we do what we do. That is why we keep pushing. That is why we sacrifice friends and family. That’s why we starve ourselves, cut ourselves zero slack, keep  fighting for promotions and hoping jobs when the promotions aren’t enough. Because we don’t want to be complacent but in reality, it isn’t that we aren’t being complacent, it’s that we aren’t being content. It is that we always want more.

Being content doesn’t stop you from casing your dreams, but it stops you from wanting more all the time, so much so that everything you have is never enough.

The dreams we have are ours to chase, they were given to us for a reason and if we don’t go after them we will never have them. But there is a bigger picture than you and me in the dreams we chase. There is a bigger picture than what you can gain. If all you see is how much you can have. How much financial security, how much skill, how much fame, then chances are the dream you’re chasing is a dream without an end and as a consequence you’ll probably never see the end of it.

That isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but then again, it might cost you more than you realise.

At the end of the day, there is a thin line between complacency and contentment and in my opinion, to get the best out of our dreams and avoid situations where they appear to be running away from us, we need to be able to tell the difference.

It is 7 sleeps to my birthday, and today, I am thankful for the people that push me to be more, to do more.

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