Don’t Postpone your dreams!
Dreams, We all have them. If you were to ask 100 people about their aspirations, what they want to chase after, if money and time were no objects, you are bound to get some very diverse answers. Don’t get me wrong I am not talking about careers here. If you really think about it, we do what we do, to earn a living, make ends meet. Sure, our jobs play a huge part in our identity, but there is a lot more to us than our jobs. Our aspiration is the lives we want to build for ourselves and our loved ones and our careers help finance that.
Not everything can be bought, yes. Some things need to be experienced, felt, discovered or even built. We all get our kicks in very different ways, thats how the world works. But the bottom line is, in this day and age all of these require a pretty penny. Sometimes more than we are ready to shell out, given our list of current commitments.
I watched this short video about a man in Japan sometime ago; A middle aged man who lives alone in a small apartment — not atypical in Japan, yes. But what is most atypical about his predicament is that more than half of his living space is occupied by a state of the art sound system that is so advanced, it is sensitive to the most minute of fluctuations in the city’s power grid. It is so vast that he has had to dispose of his bed. He sleeps on a couch, that requires moving in order to open his refrigerator. The setup has been so expensive and beyond his means, he had not been able to buy a single article of clothing for himself over the past 15 years!
What a miserable life, you think… or is it? Despite all the sacrifices he has had to make, He is happy. He sits on his couch, puts on a track and immediately transcends! In his eyes, he is living the good life. He has grasped what makes him happy, and come to terms with it.
While I certainly don’t advocate putting your life on hold and living beyond your means, like this Gentlemen, here. There is a certain kind of satisfaction in doing that. We all envy him, for he has had the guts to chase after his dream no matter the consequences. It’s a truly rare thing, really. In a time and age where everyone is talking about investments, risk management and career growth.. here is a man shelving out his life’s saving to live his dream. We all dream of doing that. In the deepest corners of our hearts, we all know what we want. It can be an exotic vacation to a place you always want to go see. It can be your dream Car, Motorcycle or that flashy new Guitar! We all wish we had the courage like this guy here, to pull the trigger and go for it.
We are all taught from a young age to save our money, keep it for later, invest, put it in a bank, let it grow… etc. etc. It’s about saving what you can today, so you have enough money to get around when you are older, a form of delayed satisfaction, if you will. But is it really worth it? Will you be able to enjoy that fast car when you are 75 and sickly? Can you climb that mountain when you are past 60? What can you do with 100 acre ranch and four story house when you cant make it from one end of the room to the other without gasping for breath!
In reality, time is a fleeting mistress, it waits for no man, or woman! You get old, weak and powerless. With time, your psyche matures, but your body gets weaker. You can slow it down, but this is the grim reality.
So enjoy what you want to enjoy, when the time is right. There is no moment like the present, your time is limited. People get old, grow apart, times change but life goes on. So strive to achieve the things that matter to you, I mean the things that truly matter, not the whimsical fantasies that come over you watching other people on social media. Don’t put it off till next year, or the one after, cos the risk of you never getting to enjoy your life and live your dreams run high. Maybe take baby steps if you have to, but make sure you get there. Someday!
You owe it to yourself!