What does it mean to “live the dream”?
Dreaming, in contrast, implies wanting to extricate yourself from the murky banality of life – striving to escape, make a change, or simply exist on a plane above the rest of the poor boring people you see at the corner store, bus stop or sitting at the desk next to yours. Even the word “dreaming” inspires imagery of verticality, being higher than the world, in whatever manifestation of heaven that works for you…
But to live the dream means suddenly those aspirations and your golden higher plane of being become just that – everyday life. One is forced to remind themselves that this – this life, this boring, annoying, mundane life of purchasing sustenance, finding a roof to live under, people to socialize with – is actually the dream we once so intensely desired. Then what are you left with? Must you alight upon the next dream - something bigger and better, newer and shockingly unique, or perhaps even something nostalgic and quant – to get you through your sudden ordinariness?
This manner of living will eventually lead to nothing – a fancy resume, friends that are more acquaintances than friends (who are themselves rushing from dream to dream without stopping to enjoy the commonplace), and the constant inner dialogue of “wouldn’t it be amazing if…” or “remember when we used to…” or “I hope someday…”.
Is that really what we’re dreaming for?
Do we, in fact, want to live our dreams? It suddenly seems grossly inappropriate. Living is for life, the beautiful, surreal, ugly and unnoticeable parts all thrown in together, mushed up so you can’t determine what is what. This is not to say we should move through life without ambition, or even without dreaming. This would lead to stagnation and no “moving through” at all. But perhaps a clear mental separation between life, dreams, and what one can expect to derive from the other. If continue to dream of living the dream, then no matter what life entails, it will always pale under the shadow of our dreams.
1 comment:
um...i dont think i've ever read something and thought, "whoa, this is a written representation of my whole being," in a much more eloquent, reified form than I have produced. Those thoughts I can't verbalize, verbalized by you, who shares an inner playful quarrel between a) becoming a resident (at least for some time)of one place and living fully in the moment, and b) planning ahead to the next adventure."
publish this.
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