Romanticizing the Dream

If you're like me and spend months—or even years—romanticizing a Dream of the Week, building it to be just so, then what happens when you go for your dream, and it isn't everything that you thought it would be?

I graduated from high school two years early so I could go live in a tree house in Alaska with my older brother for a year. I envisioned a whole year filled with adventure, climbing rugged mountains, skiing every day, and generally being an all-around badass.

What I hadn't accounted for was the downtime between those adventures. The hours I spent working, commuting from tree house to work, coping with the eternal darkness of winter, or getting sick for weeks never entered into the equation when I was preparing to live that dream.

In the end, this all put such a damper in my dream that I came home early.

Baby, It's Cold Outside

When I romanticized my dream life in Alaska, I had only focused on the highlights, I didn't sit around fantasizing about the everyday pace of life.

I thought about this for a while...

...and then thought, "What does James Bond's  everyday life look like?"

We always see him during the high action points, driving really nice cars at unsafe speeds,  shooting bad guys, or dancing with beautiful women.

But where were the scenes of him doing his laundry, cleaning his apartment, sending birthday and Christmas cards, visiting his mother, or going to the grocery store? Can you imagine the hours he had to spend at the shooting range? Or at the tailor having his suits fitted?

I know it's just a movie; he's only a fictional character.

But what's the difference between these fantasies  we create on screen vs. the ones we create in our minds, in our Dreams of the Week?

Romanticizing the dream isn't a bad thing. In fact, I think it's a great space to dream BIG. In your own imagination, you shouldn't be limiting yourself.

You don't have to lower your standards or settle.

The real learning for me came out of  appreciating the space between those highlighted moments, seeing the opportunity in tasks I didn't plan for, or particularly enjoy.

So I still want everyone to dream as big as ever, but take a moment to think about the parts of your days that won't be the doing of your dream, but instead the time preparing for the dream. The time you will still have to spend doing the dishes or running to the store for milk or folding socks.

A lot of  disappointment can result from entirely divorcing your dream from daily life and I encourage you to prepare just a little bit, once in a while, for the dirty dishes that come with your dreams.