Dreamers, Realities, and the Trappings of Life.

Everybody has creative ideas and dreams. It's the courageous few, through their determination and perseverance who turn dreams into tangible realities, with sustainable consumer needs, and/or purposes in industry or the marketplace.

Playing it safe and doing nothing usually ends with unfulfilled dreamers, looking back over their lives, asking the question, "What if?" What if I followed my bliss and took a chance? What might have happened? Could I have been successful and would I now be more happy and content than I am? Those that do nothing will never know.

When first starting out on the road to independence, self realization, and fulfillment, young dreamers feel invincible, visualizing the world at their feet with unlimited possibilities. If at first the world doesn't share the dreamer's enthusiasm, it doesn't necessarily mean that the dreamer is wrong, or that their vision doesn't have any value. It does mean that the dreamer will now have to figure out why, and then go on to the next step, or move on to their next big idea. The obvious problem with this process is that everybody has to make a living. Unless the dreamer is very rich or gets lucky and the dream actually starts generating an income for them, finding a paying job soon becomes a priority.

Along the way, if the dreamer is not careful, soon the trappings of life replace the dream with tangible possessions, which includes the responsibilities and commitments to sustain them. The dreamer's focus changes from what could be, to what is.

Life, time, and space are so finite and at best uncertain with death the only certainty and inevitable outcome for all existence. With that understanding, keeping up with the Joneses hardly seems as important as following one's bliss. When courageously taking any first step, in an attempt to rise up above complacency; realize our dreams, to give us more value and completeness, and fulfill our potentials, we all soon find that if it were easy, everybody would be doing it.

If everyone played it safe succumbing to their own self-inflected limitations, we would all still be living in the middle ages. We all benefit from the risk takers, if only to inspire us to reach our full potentials. Personally, I gravitate to people who think outside the box; not afraid to try new things. As Theodore Roosevelt said, "...there place shall never be with those timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat." It's an exciting place to be, even if it takes a lifetime to get there. We are all better off from those who are actually in the arena, pushing the envelope beyond what is, to what can be, while constantly reaching ahead of us to the infinite possibilities beyond.

There are countless stories of people who were ahead of their time, with their work only appreciated after their death. Whether they succeed in life or not is not as important as their determination to make it all happen, and after years of hard work, to finally realize their dream as something real and tangible. By doing nothing, the dream remains but a dream, and dies with the dreamer - as so often tragically happens. At least the courageous followed their bliss and took a chance with that first step to a higher calling instead of just leaving the dream a mere fabric of their unfulfilled imagination.