Saturday 5 November 2011

We are all in the gutter but some of us....

So did it turn out as you expected? Life I mean... Did you get the job you dreamed of, the partner you desired, the lifestyle you aspired towards? Or has it gone a little off kilter?

Reason I ask, is that I've been pondering this over the past few days - the fact folk assume that things will work out - and often they don't. Or rather they do, but not how you might have planned. Or the fact people are too scared to do what they really want to do and settle instead. So they wind up miles from where they thought they would be... maybe that's a good thing when they think the end result aint so bad at all. Others are filled with bitterness and resentment that their lives aren't quite as exciting, glamorous, fabulous as others.

Whilst I sort of subscribe to the idea that you get the life you ask for - I also see how circumstance and bad luck can ruin people and it isn't their fault at all. People rarely talk about their dreams though... In the Uk there is something terribly galling if someone talks up what they want to do - yet in the US this is positively embraced. Live the dream they say. I often think I was born in the wrong country.

Do people ever talk anymore about what they want - or is it all kept quiet, for fear of failure? Oh I hear weekly what folk would do if they won the lottery - but only one of my friends ever talks about his dreams and what he wants to achieve. He is determined and fearless. It isn't about showing everyone else what he can do - maybe a tiny part - but it is for him, so he can prove to himself what he can accomplish. One blog I love - The Girl Who, talked about what she wanted and made it happen. In life there are the talkers and there are the doers. I have always considered myself more of a doer - but lately I have been mothering and not doing so much. But I have a plan. Well a few. One is so sky high that is verging on impossible - but that is why I like it. I love a challenge. Life is all about the trying. You'll maybe regret the things you did - but more than that, you will regret the things the didn't. Like in 1993 my mates all hired a limo and went to Dublin to see U2. I said I didn't have the cash, being a broke student - and I didn't tag along. But I wish I'd gone, as they had a blast. They rolled up at some hotel where a wedding was going on, and the all the guests assumed that it was U2 in the limo, and not a bunch of stoned students... That is possibly one of my only regrets in life.

I wish I had more time to devote to all things dreamy, but with a Diva daughter and a son with more after school activities than you could shake a stick at... I aint got much time to do stuff. Only after 8pm when I am shattered. I'll have to make hay when the beasts sleep...

I wonder what you all dreamed, and if it worked out. I guess most people wouldn't even say if it didn't - who wants to face up to failing - or worse, not even trying.
But you know, I always think you can do anything you want. Anything. Focus, determination and a tad of talent - go a long way. Reach for those stars, or someone else will...

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the timely reminder: to never stop dreaming.

Anonymous said...

I never really had a plan (or a dream) for my life. I grew up with quite a few people who knew what they wanted to be or do from a very young age, but I just sort of ambled through my life waiting to see what it would throw at me. For the last three years life's been chucking a lot of rotten tomatoes; maybe it has been doing so for much longer than that, I just never really noticed until now.
It took hitting rock bottom for me before my dream finally jumped up, grabbed me by the shoulders and shook me awake. Over the last couple of months, every time I try to side step it, it somehow ends up standing right in front of me again daring me to grab a hold of it. I have taken it gingerly in hand now.
The truth is I am terrified of failing. The more terrifying truth is when I evaluate the last forty years of life I have lived so far I have not achieved a passing grade. My grasp tightens around my dream a little every day now and I have decided to give myself points for trying.
- Daycare Lady

Keenie Beanie said...

I never imagined my life like it is today. I wouldn't say that I've missed the mark on achieving my dreams. My goal, growing up poor, was simply to be not poor. I made that happen. I've been blessed in my career - but what little girl proclaims with shining eyes, "I want to be an accountant!"

Ah, well. I haven't dreamed big dreams; I have simply chosen to be happy with this strange trip called life. But sometimes, I read about fascinating people doing amazing things and wonder if I've only shot for mediocre just so I don't have to feel like a failure.