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“The Distraction of Dreams”

Whoever thought “dreaming” could be a bad thing?  I didn’t.  Well then again I guess it’s one of those “too much of a good thing” concepts.  See I’ve come to recently recognize that having dreams can be one of life’s biggest distractions.  How so you ask?  Well to a professional day dreamer life myself musing about life is something I’m often found lost and completely immersed in.  It’s where the genius of many creatives and innovators is revealed.  I can sit for hours watching people and the world around me drowning in the creative possibilities musically, poetically, artistically, conceptually, etc.  It’s quite an adventure to envision yourself making, doing, and becoming someone of impactful change on your community, country, and world.  That in and of itself is certainly not bad at all.  And if I were to consider the history of those who made regular practice of daydreaming I dare say I’d be in fairly stellar company.  Sir Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein, and Mark Twain are just some of the world’s most famous daydreamers.  But what is it about daydreaming that determines if it’s creative problem solving or lazy voyeuristic drooling?  It boils down to this.  

What does your daydreaming motivate you to do?  Does your dream move you to action or does it make you disappointed with reality?  Does your dream motivate you to work hard and study or does it make you disenfranchised impatient and intolerant with the tasks of your “real” life?  Often the worst part of dreaming is waking up.  Why?  The dream is a beautiful utopia where work exists in an ideal abbreviated form and mere thoughts, desires, and good intentions bring about beautiful life changing events.  But we all know that’s not reality.  I had to recognize that my greatest strength could also be my greatest weakness if I didn’t put it into perspective.  I’ve often allowed my lofty aspirations to persecute my present with what I did not possess along with the long list of “currently am NOT but want to be’s”.  Don’t let what you don’t have make you upset.  The following realizations brought me out of my daydream disenchantment.  

For one, what I perceived as so amazing within the dream is an idealized version of what certain accomplishments look like.  I don’t know what winning a Grammy really feels like or what having a schedule as busy as Claude Kelly feels like.  Sure both look glamorous on the outside, but what kind of sacrifices are made?  How many songs does a person write before even being a part of a song nominated by the Recording Academy?  How many times and how many years were my favorite writers and artists turned down before finding that one “YES”?  How many creative ideas are rejected before a person struck gold?  How many times did they rewrite the dialogue to that particular episode?  I DON’T KNOW.  I have no idea of the struggles or life experiences that lead to that place of culmination.  But I take solace in the fact that at this very moment the thing that will one day lead to that “big idea” is happening in my regular old life as I type.  Sometimes we miss the beauty of the journey stressing over the destination.  It’s often not about where you up end up, but who came with you and what you experienced along the way.  

The second thing I recognized was my ideology about success was distracting me from the real work it takes to reach my endeavors.  I became so intimidated by the perfection of my dream that I nearly felt the work to reach that pinnacle was insurmountable.  Every destination has many routes leading to it, but you’ll never reach it if you don’t take the step that’s immediately in front of you.  That may mean starting locally or finishing the unfinished projects in your head.  That may mean investing in equipment or studying online.  Whatever that means to you or I, we must understand that our choices today create our tomorrow.  We can make the decision to be on our way to where we want to be.  Don’t allow future aspirations to persecute the present.  Live this moment.  You have the power to be.  Now put those dreams into action.  You’ve got somewhere and someone to BE!