Are You Brave Enough to Chase Your Dreams?
Everybody has a dream, a passion, an ambition. Most people are too afraid to speak them out loud because they believe dreams will only ever be dreams, and that by speaking them aloud people will either judge them, or help them fail.
Why should a person be allowed to chase their dreams? We are adults, we must work boring jobs to pay the bills, drive a nice car to impress our friends, and really stress about the ROI for a global, tax avoiding, and environmentally damaging corporation.
Or at least that’s what they try and sell us at the tender age of 16.
Well, I’m not buying it. I believe the key to true happiness is fulfilling your true potential, achieving your dreams, finding your dharma. I know this because I’m doing it, right now—as I type these words I’m following my dharma.
I used to be this stressed out individual, working hours that were too long in the hopes of a promotion in a global marketing company. I worried about making millionaires richer, all the while making my own health suffer. Where is the logic in that? I worried about money, my weight, the state of my skin, the style of my hair, what people thought of me, the future, the past, my health, the health of my loved ones, weather I was clever enough, funny enough, loving enough. I even stressed out about being stressed out!
I rolled out my yoga mat once a week at my local inner city class. It was a 45 minute pocket of stress-free bliss. Just 45 minutes though; anything longer is a luxury, right? Something then slowly began to change. It was without my knowing at first but, over time, I became less conscious of others’ opinions, less stressed, less self-involved and anxious. I needed more of this. So I upped my yoga classes to 2 -3 times per week for 1.5 hours. I needed more of this good stuff!
After years of this routine the balance of life shifted in my favor. People saw how much I’d changed and asked me how I’d done it. Was it that I just gave fewer f*cks or was it this magical “yoga”? They wanted to know what yoga could do for them. They tried classes, asked for advice, came to me to vent the frustrations, and ask me to help them feel better. They saw my calm and they wanted a piece of the action. It was then that I realized my dharma: to make people be happier. Not just by telling them everything is going to be okay or buying them a stiff drink at the end of a tough day, but giving them the tools they need to create their own happiness. Giving them the confidence to take control.
For me it all started with yoga, so I enrolled in a teacher training course to be a yoga and meditation teacher. It’s out there now, my dharma. I’ve announced it to the world for lovers to love and haters to hate. That doesn’t faze me though. I now know I’m in control of my own happiness and the people who want to see me fail are the people too scared to chase their own dreams.
If I can make just one person go onto live a happier lifestyle, then I’ll know all this hard work will have been worth it. This key to changing your life is firstly, admitting you want to and secondly, saying it aloud for the world to hear. There is nothing to be scared of.
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3 Comments
Amanda
April 24, 2016 at 2:05 pmSo great that you found your bliss! I think yoga can help a lot of people find the courage to step into what they’re really meant to do, what would really give them joy (even if it’s not teaching yoga!). Another thing we need to find courage to do is change course when our dreams change….sometimes we chase one for so long that we don’t realize we’ve maybe stopped wanting it, and when we get it we feel like we have to stick with it because we worked so hard for it, even though it’s not singing to us anymore. 🙂
Megan Reddix
April 25, 2016 at 11:14 amI love this! The reason I ended up sticking with yoga was because of a woman quite similar to you. She walked with such a calm air of confidence and poise. She loved everyone and everything around her, but she could care less of their opinion about her. It was apparent in the way she talked and walked. A light would shine through her exuding such a natural and mindful state of being. I wanted that in my life, too, so I made yoga a bigger part of my life. Now people ask me the same. How do I deal with life always smiling and always so calm? So I drag my friends to yoga class, or I set up a “studio” out in the park and guide them on their own yogic journey. I’ve never had one bad reaction. I took that as a sign, so I am now training with Aura Wellness Center to become a 200 hr RYT. Thank you for sharing your story!
Katie
April 28, 2016 at 9:01 amOMG! I am going through this right now! I’ve been working on my goals for the past few years and it is so interesting to see that people prefer to judge me or attempt to make me fail?
Over and over and over I was told to stay in my normal job and maybe consider training to be a manager even though they’d hear me talk about who I am and what I really want, it was as if what they’d hear went through one ear and out the other whilst sending me links to office and retail jobs? Working towards a dream can be painful and often lonely but it’s worth it because on the way you do meet like minded people (or little angels) that seem to remind you of your beauty and what you set out to do. Now I am nearing my dream, it’s almost there and I’ve just done a kid’s yoga teacher training…Interestingly one of the people who didn’t believe in me or the path I was taking (she kept sending me customer service job links) is now ‘liking’ and commenting on my news-feed about how great I am and how cool my achievements are.
What goes on in the mindset of these types of people just baffles me and you are right, individuals like that for what ever reason didn’t chase their dream and in their psyche probably thought “Then why should she?” Loved your article x