This article is a guest post written by Bo Sebastian.
Sometimes you sit somewhere and listen to a person speak. They say something that just wakes you up. My friend Jana Stanfield said this yesterday: The Answer to how is simply yes!
I love this quote, because we spend our entire life thinking about how we will get to our dreams. Most of the time our internal mind is saying NO because… we don’t have enough money, we are too old, we are too fat, we are too ugly, we have too many children, we should spend the money on the house. The answers are endlessly NO.
But what if we just said YES! and began from there?
I remember a time when I had just $155 saved in the bank. I was twenty-one. I got a telephone call from a great friend and mentor, who passed on this year from cancer. He asked me if I wanted to sublet his apartment in NYC for the summer while he was doing summer stock at Kenley Players in Ohio. My dream as an actor/singer/dancer was to move to NYC and work on Broadway.
I didn’t think NO. I thought and said YES immediately to the call! NYC was my dream. It didn’t matter that I had only 155 dollars saved. I would figure something out. I would get the money before I had to leave. I would take the trip (even if I had to ride my bicycle) and get there. This is answering the call to a dream.
But, I believe, that as we get older we tend to lose that fearlessness. If I were faced with the same decision today, I would probably say, there is no way I can afford to do that. But I also have a house payment, $3000 worth of bills a month, a mom to take care of, a partner to consider, a business that I have grown for years I’d have to throw away. There are many things at stake now that weren’t at stake when I was young. I get that. But still, sometimes our dreams aren’t as big as moving our lives to NYC to work on Broadway!
Sometimes dreams are just as simple as buying a pair of skis and taking that ski trip you have been wanting to take for three years, but you have been letting every other person and financial obligation stand in the way of it. What would it hurt to spend a little money on yourself and take five days off to ski and let your heart sing? Wouldn’t it be worth it for your soul?
I’m speaking to myself now. Because I’m the one who has snuck in a one-day ski trip in some hole-in-the-wall place like Paeoli Peaks, IN every year, because I just can’t seem to see clearly enough to make myself a true vacation.
One day isn’t enough to get away and let your heart sore. You need the first couple days just to let go of your anxieties of work and separate from all the network of everyday chores to get to the place where your mind begins to explore the newness of freedom.
I had that chance two years ago when I went to Key West and Miami for a week. By the end of the week I was jet skiing and taking boat tours and shopping like I truly was on vacation. I was carefree. I missed that part of me. We all need to experience that in our lives at least once a year, so that we can bring a little of that back to our everyday lives, don’t you think?
I certainly do. So, the first thing I’m going to do when I get off of this computer is begin to envision my ski trip this year. I don’t care who doesn’t want to go. I’m going to make it happen, and I’m going to have the time of my life. I deserve it, as you deserve to have the time of your life!
Say, yes, to your dreams today.
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