It is so easy to dream. We can conjure up so many great scenarios in our minds where we all live happily ever after. Then, when it comes to execution, we struggle.
I have mentioned before on my blog about becoming a full-time writer. The dream of living a life dedicated to daily writing and getting paid for it is one I often have. I am not looking to get famous or rich, just live comfortably. I get into a flow while writing that is rivalled by nothing else that I have ever done. While I am far from perfect at doing it, I am getting better with every post that I write.
Who knows where this writing journey will take me, but while I dream of doing it for a living, the reality or shall I say, anxiety, of it creeps in and I back down. I live in a town where there are not many (if any) opportunities for full-time writers. Am I willing to make my own opportunity? Am I willing to give up over 15 years of software development experience to take on a new career? And then the “what ifs” come and my desire to be a career writer deflates.
Why do keep doing this to myself?
Confidence is such a difficult thing to get right. It always seems like we are either under confidence in our ability or overconfident; getting the right amount just seems impossible. When it comes time to actually act upon something, we back away and retreat to what comforts us. Yet being comfortable is never the way to create confidence, in fact being comfortable eats confidence for breakfast!
Instead of continually seeking to do what makes us happy, we fret about what will make us happy in the future and convince ourselves that what we have done in the past will keep us happy now; even if we are miserable in our current situation. We confuse comfort for happiness. Many of us live our entire lives like this.
It becomes more and more evident every day that I must pursue my dream, there is no way that comes the day that I am resting on my deathbed that I will ever regret any decision I made to make me happy. Provided I didn’t hurt anyone around me to do so, there is no reason why I would ever regret being my full self.
We never look back with great regret of the things that we have done, we have much more regret over the things that we didn’t do.
It’s time to stop dreaming and time to start doing.
X-XC