April 16, 2015
We often feel a sense of guilt over our dreams. We feel selfish for putting so much of ourselves into something so… trivial. Such a… fantasy. The ideas that spin out of our imagination arrive so ephemerally that is difficult to describe them as anything but “unreal.” How could we waste so much energy on an idea like that?
Your dreams matter to the people around you
The truth is your dreams matter as much, and many times more, to the people close to you than they do to you! Those people love and care about you, and they want to see you succeed. Feel like an underdog? Like there is no way you can pull this off? People that don’t even know you love to root for an underdog! However, to the people close to you it’s something even stronger.
See, here’s the thing. You may doubt yourself. You may feel self-conscious about your weakness, and unsure about your abilities. Everyone has those feelings. About themselves. However, the people close to you don’t have those feelings about you. All they see is what you are capable of. All they see is what they know you can do. To them you don’t have a great vision -that will never work because I’m just me. To them you have a great vision that absolutely will work because you are you! Trust them. They aren’t giving up on you, the way you doubt yourself, because you know something they don’t. They believe in you, because they can see you in an unadulterated way you can’t see yourself.
You matter to the people around you
However, beyond even that confidence they have in you, and love they have for you, there is another reason your dreams matter to the people around you. Really to all of us. The type of passion held within the core of each dream is contagious. The happiness that radiates out from you is too. Have you ever had a conversation with someone who was so unabashedly excited about the topic, even though you had no idea what they were talking about? It didn’t matter, did it? Without clear understanding, you got a little excited too. Each of us is an inescapably integral part of everyone else’s life.
Our moods, our ideas, and our attitudes are all contagious. We all would rather, in general, keep the company of joyful people than people who are miserable, and only complain. Your dreams matter because pursuing them is the best way for you to be that person for the people close to you.
Likewise, resent is a festering disease. To give up on a pursuit, because it’s want you think your family wants, or needs is a dangerous bet. No one wants to be resented for a decision you made. No one wants to be blamed for something they had no control over.
Instead, recognize what they do want: Their friend, spouse, father, or daughter accepting challenges that inspire them to accept their own. Their loved one engaged in life in an way that excites them as well. Trust me, the people that care about you want you to make them smile with your enthusiasm. They will help you. They will laugh off the struggle with you. However, what those people will not do, is resent you for your passion.
Life is a balancing act. To focus on anything to the exclusion of all else will deprive you of the opportunity for all of this sharing. However, if there is nothing in your life, and no soul to share, what good is the opportunity?
Why Do Your Dreams Matter?
Because we are a social species, and what matters to you, matters to us. It matters to us that you engage in your own life. It matters to us that you are happy, and excited. Your dreams give you meaning, and you give us meaning. Why should your dreams matter to you? Because they matter to us.
Venture to Dream
-Michael Speck
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