In life, there are dreamers, and then there are people who are living their dreams. Many of my friends are dreamers. This is not really a bad thing. I’m guilty of it myself. This is an important starting point. The thing that I have come to realize though, is that dreams alone are worthless. Don’t get me wrong, dreams are great to have (especially that one with me and Meagan Good) but at the end of the day that’s all it will ever be, a dream. The problem arises when we allow our dreams to interfere with our perception of reality. This usually leads to excuses as to why your dream is not being realized. But the reality is that there is usually one of two reasons for this. Either your dreams are impossible to achieve because they defy some law of nature, or you have just been sitting on your ass, making your dreams equally impossible to achieve. Usually it’s the latter.
“You'll never achieve your dreams if they don't become goals.” - Unknown
It’s easy to make excuses. “Well, I don’t have the degree I need to do that” There are plenty of successful business owners without business degrees. There are tons of successful artists that have never received one day of formal art instruction. Ultimately if you have a dream and are serious about realizing it, you will find a way to make it happen. I learned this from a cousin of mine who recently started a photography business out of the blue. This is someone who has never had a photography lesson in his life. But he took the time to learn what he needed to make it work. And he is still learning and still progressing. You don’t necessarily need school to become educated. He knows what he knows because he did his own research. Yeah, I said research. With current technology allowing for an great deal of information to be accessed on virtually any subject, there are really no more valid excuses left. And when I think about it, some of the most useful things I’ve learned weren’t learned in a classroom. But if you feel like school is the only way to achieve your goal, so be it. Make it happen. Find schools. Fill out applications. Apply for aid. Whatever you have to do, if you’re truly passionate about your so called dream, you will do it.
So the first step to realizing a dream is basically to get off your ass. It’s common sense really. If you take a step you move forward. If you don’t you remain stationary. My cousin wanted to do photography so guess what he did, he bought a camera. That’s a mind blowing concept, I know. Then later he bought a better camera. Then gradually more and more equipment. And now he has people willing to pay him for his services. His initial camera wasn’t expensive, just good enough to get some experience. Which brings me to another common excuse, “Well I don’t have enough experience…” Ok…so get some. I have yet to witness anyone gain any experience by doing nothing. If you’re not willing to work for it, let’s just refer to it as an interest, or hobby. An actual dream would evoke some level of effort on your part. I wanted to attend law school at one time, but I decided not to because it was merely an interest. I’m just not willing to put that much effort and time into an interest.
So if you have a dream get up and start working towards it. I love Langston Hughes as much as the next man (pause) , but I think he had it wrong when he said “A dream deferred is a dream denied”. Sounds like a cop out to me. It’s never too late to get started. If your dream is to be a photographer, buy a camera. If your dream is to be a magician, buy some cards, learn some tricks. And if you always dreamed of being a pole dancer, get in the gym. Because lord knows there’s nothing worse than a bad bodied stripper. But that’s another subject entirely.
“The best way to make your dreams come true is to wake up.”- J.M. Power
The bottom line is that dreams are great to have but at some point you have to wake your ass up. I can dream all I want about Chick Fil A nuggets (I‘m convinced they sprinkle crack in the batter), but until I wake up, get in my car, and drive my black ass to Chick Fil A, that dream does me no good. If you have a dream and you’re working towards making it a reality, more power to you. Otherwise, FUCK YOUR DREAMS…..Yeah, I said it.
