Are dreams for everyone?

From January 20, 2010

I met my old friend today. My envy of him comes from the same place as my highs from smelling summertime. He found and followed his dream of becoming a photographer, and his no-boundaries approach to building a legacy is one I feel privileged to be witnessing. I know that one day he’ll be a famous wedding photographer, and I don’t just say that because he’s my friend. I say it because I know world-class when I see it. We use that phrase a lot at work, and it’s kind of sad because it’s like using the good china for taco nights. Anyway, I digress.
So I spent the afternoon helping him with his marketing strategy and it left me thinking: what about me? What’s my thing? Does everyone have a dream? I’m not talking about wanting to be a ballerina or a rock star – though those are dreams for some, for sure. I mean: a true purpose that when fulfilled stretches you to your greatest and most unimaginable potential. Not this what’s-the-least-amount-of-work-I-can-do-that’s-still-better-than-average approach to getting paid.

Or sadly, are some people born without a dream? If so, what must a soul do in the ante-life to deserve the dream-seed? Sounds kind of unfair, right?

Or, does everyone have a dream and some are just more in tune to theirs than others?

Or, do you create your own dreams? Like, they’re not born until you dream them?

It seems most people go through life perfectly fine having a job they can tolerate as long as it allows them to afford doing the things they love: have a family, travel, eat nice dinners, buy fancy things, make charitable contributions… I don’t think I think there’s anything wrong with that. But then again, why do I feel so dirty every time I catch me telling myself that I’ll keep living the corporate life until it doesn’t make sense anymore? It’s like when I bought this house. The excitement of becoming a property-owner was so much eclipsed by this gripping fear that I’d locked myself into a predictable and pre-designed life like a cargo car on rails.

I don’t think you can make up dreams. I’ve tried. And each time, the flicker of an idea – once explored – leaves me irritated and unsatisfied. Like the boy you liked so much until you didn’t and then look back thinking, “what was I thinking?” I like analogies because they tell me what I’m thinking must be real if some similar situation existed in some other time and place. I also like using them in my writing because I can never think them up on the spot when I’m talking. Again, I digress.

Anyway, my search for a point in this blogpost is quite the perfect analogy to my dream quest. It was all masterfully designed.

By the way, if you think all that talk about my photographer friend was just a bunch of smokey hullabaloo, check it out for yourself. He’s launching a new and improved site soon, but this will give you an idea: ahmetze

We booked him for ours!