The Choice is Yours

I write and talk a lot about creating the life you want. Some people hear what I say or read what I write and get inspired to go dust off their old dreams and start pursuing them. Some even get inspired to dream a new dream.

And some other people hear or read my words and immediately start listing all the reasons that they can’t have the life they want. They think all this “life design” stuff is “pie in the sky” nonsense.

Which camp do you fall into? Do you believe you can have the life you really want? Or do you think it’s impossible and we should all be more practical?

Let me ask you this: When you answer that question, how does it make you feel?

When I think that I can have the life I want, and that it’s possible to make my biggest dreams come true, I feel energized, excited, optimistic and ready to go! But when I think that it’s not possible for me, (maybe for other people, but not me), or I think that it’s all nonsense and I should really be more practical, I feel defeated, sad, unmotivated. It makes me want to reach for a pint of Chunky Monkey!

How would you rather feel – excited and motivated, or defeated and crappy?

Personally, I choose excited and motivated!

But maybe you’re thinking, “C’mon, it might feel good to believe that but it’s not realistic. If you have unrealistic dreams you’re going to feel pretty bad if you don’t get them. It might feel good to eat Chunky Monkey all day, too, but that’s not good for you, either.”

I hear you. I’ve known people who had some hare-brained ideas and thought they were going to be wildly successful – and I thought they were deluding themselves. I remember seeing some episodes of American Idol with some contestants with really god-awful singing voices auditioning who thought they were really great singers and all the while the judges cringed through their auditions. So I understand that concern that maybe what we really want isn’t truly feasible.

But hear me out here. I truly believe that our true desires – those that come from our authentic self (not from our ego) – are possible for us.

Here’s an analogy – let’s say, I wake up one day and decide that I really want to play in the NBA. Now, I’m a short, middle-age, out of shape woman, but by god, I want to play in the NBA! The fame! The fortune! Who wouldn’t want that?

That is an ego-driven dream that would either be the result of some serious hallucinogenic drugs or my ego losing its mind!

But, my actual dream – my dream of making my living from my calling (helping people find their path so they can live their dreams) is absolutely possible!

Has it been hard as hell to quit a very lucrative, work-at-home job and build this business from scratch? Absolutely. Has it been worth it? Absolutely! Every time a client moves toward their dream or gets unstuck or learns more about his or her strengths and builds them into their “super powers” I know I am on the right track.

Our real dreams may be big, but if they are coming from our authentic self, they are obtainable for us. Not without hard work. And likely not without some failures along the way.

We will all hit those bumpy patches on the way to our biggest dreams, but that doesn’t mean we will never achieve our dreams or that’s it’s not the right dream. When we hit those rough patches, that is when we must choose again whether we believe we can have those dreams or not. The choice is always ours.