Sometimes, when you look at your life you may have discussion with yourself. No, not like you’re the crazy one talking to yourself on the street corner. I am referring to the internal conversation that goes on inside your head. I believe that sometimes we tell ourselves certain things that are more powerful than we can imagine. For instance, are you still trying to make it? Trying to make your millions or live your dream? Ever feel like you talk yourself out of your dream?

I’ve been there. I have been discouraged after another attempt at chasing my dream that didn’t work out the way I thought. Part of me tells the other to give up. Give in…go on. You are not meant to live your dream! If so BY NOW, you would be ____________ fill in the blank. I was reminded of this thought while listening to Jon Acuff’s book Quitter.

Lowering Our Standards

Why do we do this? Well, I believe two things. I think that sometimes it is easier to just give up. To say I am just going to live a “normal” life. Living your dream doesn’t happen…that’s all said to sell a book. People that live their dreams are the lucky ones we say. We are just not one of those lucky ones.

I also believe that we get some kind of release from giving up. We no longer have to be pacing, thinking, wishing that our dream would come true. We can just live life right? Check into work, check out, collect a paycheck. Go home, dive into that TV show and eat some frozen food. Realize it’s time to get some sleep
cause we have to check into work tomorrow. Repeat. What were we thinking believing we could make it?! That’s like winning the lottery!! We start to believe this.

We go to a job that may pay our bills, but by no means does it get our mind racing or heart pumping. We settle for ordinary, we take what is convenient, but not satisfying. We may discover more hurdles that get in our way mentally. We get married, we have to pay off school debt, we have kids. And on and on…. Over time, we forget our why. See Simon Sinek’s book. We forget what makes us tick. We thought that living our dream means that we get that hit record deal and ditch the life we knew ten minutes ago.

Underestimate The Time Involved in Pursuit of Our Dream

The second idea I believe is that we don’t realize the path to our dream may take a while. Personally, it seems like an eternity. When it may be 5+ years working towards making it a reality if you are lucky. It is a lifetime for the person living those years. The majority of people who live out their dream spend years if not decades getting there. Do you think that Steve Jobs said to himself that he would change the world in 1-2 years. See a quote from Steve below.

“Again, you can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future.” -Steve Jobs

I encourage you to check out the two authors I mentioned above. Most of all. Don’t believe it! It’s not too late.