What’s your dream?
In the 1990 film Pretty Woman, starring Richard Gere and Julia Roberts, a hip, cheery Angeleno man walks through the streets of Hollywood asking ‘Welcome to Hollywood. What’s your dream?…Some dreams come true, some don’t. But keep on dreamin’….’ Every time I visit Los Angeles, like I did last week; namely Hollywood, that one line gets me thinking about my dream: making art and writing full time.
That line, ‘What’s your dream?’ focuses me back on what I know I should be doing: creating, and everything that goes with it. I know God put my dream—my purpose—in my heart. I can’t not do it. My life verse, Ephesians 2:10 says: ‘For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them’.
I was created for a purpose, and so were you.
We all know dreams must have goals with deadlines, written down, or they’ll just remain dreams. But sometimes obstacles throw themselves in front of our dreams and halt them for a while. We intend to start going toward that dream, or continue in it, and life encroaches. Bills, the day job, tiredness, issues with physical health, kids, schedules and cars all need attention.
Maybe it’s something more ‘interior’, like naysayers telling you you’ll never achieve your dream, or that you need to ‘be practical’, that freezes your feet into immobility. Or, maybe it’s fear and your naysayer is in your own head, telling you doing your dream is impossible.
I think that’s why Hollywood fascinates me: so many thousands—maybe millions—of people arrive with their dreams every year. On that first day they set foot in the city, their hearts full of hope and their eyes full of stars: anything is possible.
Some get sidetracked. Some put in years and then crash and burn. Some are working steadily right now in their dream, which looks different than they’d thought. Some are still pushing forward. A handful achieve what they wanted, and more.
All of us have been in that valley of despair, second-guessing that dream we have, wondering if it’s crazy, if we can or should do it.
Even Hollywood and much of the surrounding neighborhood last week looked rougher than I remember, as if its own dreams had hopped the 405 and gone south for the winter. I hope that changes. There’s always hope.
In my own life, I can do more than hope. I didn’t make it this far in life just to one or more of a laundry list of obstacles stop me. Neither should you.
Here are a few things I do to keep going:
- It’s a marathon not a sprint. There are a few people who get ‘discovered’, but most successful people are diligent, creating and doing habits that move them forward.
- Don’t wait for big chunks of time; use every moment. There’s something I can accomplish in a minute, 30 minutes, or 2 hours. Every action moves me forward. Waiting to be able to work my dream full time gets me nowhere.
- Ignore the naysayers. Family and friends mean well. I just nod and thank them when they give me a zinger. And then I go do what I need to, to move forward.
- Take a minute. Never forget self-care. I’m more important than my dream. Sometimes I need to take a minute, or a day, or a little time off so I don’t burn out. I’m not great at this, but I’m working on it.
- Reminders. Some people use vision boards. I just put up something that reminds me of where I want to be: a flyer for an art show for which I’m preparing. Sometimes I just hang up some paintings that inspire me.
- Pray. I don’t know what others do, but I try to seek my Creator in all I do. If He’s not in it, it’s all for nothing.
- Another chunk. A way to use those little chunks of time I mentioned before is ‘housekeeping’. You might wonder how that moves me forward, but organizing and putting art supplies or writing files where they need to me, allows me to get to work sooner at another time.
- Don’t compare. Comparison is the enemy of joy. And sometimes of action. There is always someone more talented, more successful, more something than me. But I’m the only one who can do what I do.
- And last: time is ticking. Time is the only thing you can never get back. I’m one day closer to leaving this earth every day. I ask myself: what did I do with today?
25 Days of Minis 2023 is over, and was a great success! 2024 will be even better! Missed the show? There are still pieces available here.
