Today’s post is short and sweet, but it has everything to do with what has been so heavy on my heart recently. This whole idea of dreaming and living out your passions has just been in the forefront of my mind. Call me idealistic, but with all the voices telling you why you should stay silent, someone has to break through the static.
I’m baby-sitting for my brother and sister-in-law tonight (I prefer to call it “mannying” but to each his own) so I ran out real fast when my brother got home from work to pick up some dinner. I know I’ve been doing a lot of work today by helping my sister-in-law take care of Eloise while she ran a few errands, but when I pulled out of the driveway at 6:30 pm still in the clothes I slept in, I wasn’t feeling too productive. But, I had a mission and I just wanted to keep my head down and get some dinner. That was before I ran into Clint at the restaurant.
They told me it would take about 10 minutes to get my food, so I slumped down in a both and patiently waited. Before I knew what I was doing, I made eye contact with Clint and started the good ole small talk routine. I found out that Clint was an undergrad student and was preparing to start applying for business schools and would hopefully end up down the street at SMU if he got lucky. I asked him what he wanted to do with his schooling and he said he didn’t know, it just seemed like the best next step. I asked him again and again he said he didn’t know, and that was why he was staying in school. Finally I just asked him if he could do anything, what would it be. He fumbled around for a while and I got the feeling he didn’t really think that way. I felt like the conversation was headed no where, so I finally asked him what he thought about the possibilities was of people living out their dreams.
He just said, “Well I know people can be happy with what they do, but eventually we grow out of those childish dreams and start making a living and providing.”
I was bummed. Do people really think like that? Has realizing your lifelong dream really become that much of an impossibility? I can be idealistic at times, but to believe you don’t have a shot before you even take one just seems hopeless.
Despite the outlook of the conversation, I then told him what I do for a living and how I come alongside and help people realize their dreams and goals all over the world. He actually told me I lived an exciting life and thought I must meet some cool people and go to cool places. I just responded with the only thing I knew…
It’s all pointless if no one dreams.
I’m not saying we need to sell everything and give it to the poor. Or live on next to nothing aside from a prayer and random “paychecks” from friends and family. I just want us to allow ourselves to dream about something that may not be right in front of us and may even look impossible…
