As I approach my next birthday, I have to start to wonder if I’ve lived up to my full potential. When you are young, you have dreams and desires to be bigger than life. When you reach your 20′s those dreams start to give way to reality and then, when you reach your 30′s, you realize that you’ve essentially compromised your dreams to make ends meet and to become a cog in the machine. Chasing your dreams then seems like “a game for the young” as it were and you continue to be a cog until you turn 65 and can retire. The more I think about this, the more I realize that this isn’t the way it has to be. Life doesn’t necessarily end when you turn 30. Dreams don’t have to die in your 20′s. And the longings and hope of youth don’t have to be swept away, lost to the sea of conformity.
Perhaps I’m out of line in my thinking and I welcome the opinions and advice of other people who choose to share it. But until I hear a compelling argument that life really ISN’T what you make of it and that dreams really CAN’T come true, I’m going to hold on to those “foolish” dreams of youth. I’m going to keep dreaming of being a voice actor for animation and practicing that talent daily. I’m going to keep on singing, even if I have to emulate other people in order to sound good. And I’m going to keep on writing in the hopes that one day I sell a comic book or a TV series because if I give up on those hopes…if I give up on those dreams…I might as well be dead. They keep me going, they keep me young, they keep me vital, and they keep me sane.
It’s 10/10/10, people. Time to grab life by the horns and wrestle it to the ground.
October 10, 2010 at 7:49 pm |
Hey there, friend! (I hope you don’t mind that I followed the link on your FB page to your blog!) I completely agree with what you said in this entry though… and felt compelled to post a response as your words really resonated with me. For me, I always feel a tinge of guilt for allowing myself to experience joy or excitement over an accomplishment. It’s as though I have subconsciously decided that I am not allowed to feel happiness because, for whatever reason, I do not deserve it.
This way of thinking kept me from returning to school for a long, long time because I felt that I wasn’t good enough for school – going back to complete the hours required for graduation was just a “dream” rather than a reality for me. But here I sit today, 1 week away from making that dream a reality!
Dreams really do come true, we just have to have enough faith in ourselves to allow them to come true!
“As human beings, our greatness lies not so much in being able to remake the world — that is the myth of the ‘atomic age’ — as in being able to remake ourselves.” ~ Mahatma Gandhi
October 10, 2010 at 10:48 pm |
Of course I don’t mind that you commented, Joan! My blog is free for all to read!
I’m glad that my words resonated with people. It seemed like a jumble when I wrote it earlier but I felt the need to get it off my chest. I feel that too often people get locked into what they think a grown up should be. If people would just let go and enjoy what time we have, maybe the world would be a less scary place. 
October 10, 2010 at 9:57 pm |
Ah, but you are sooo off base! People don’t start to take you seriously until you are in your 30s. When you are in your 20s, people think you are too young and inexperienced to know what you are talking about. But a ’30 something’ has some life under his belt and this is the time to make your dreams come true! Run forward and embrace it!
October 10, 2010 at 10:50 pm |
You are right, Connie, people do start to take you more seriously when you get out of your 20′s. I’m going to follow my dreams and rock this place.