I know, I wasn't here for a while...It’s Autumn so why not tell a little story?
Let me tell you the story of a young dreamer...
It was early spring and the young dreamer went to a beautiful park where all the flowers and trees were just waking up and butterflies were dancing an unknown happy song. He sat down on a bench on a Sunday afternoon and wrote his dreams in the notebook and then said: “I feel my whole future is just ahead of me, all my dreams are ready to be chased. The world is my oyster.“
Then, dreamer heard a wind’s voice at his shoulder: “You can have a decent life without chasing your dreams. You can have a nice job, go on nice holidays, maybe even take a year off. I will give you all the nice, easy things you can wish for- just don’t’ aim too high and put your notebook aside.”
So, the young dreamer listened to the wind whose advice was nice and polite. The seasons and the years went by.
The dreamer had listened to what the wind had told him in the park. He went from one job to the next, all had gone well and life had passed by smoothly over the years. Then, he met three friends that the wind introduced to him: Comfort, Procrastination and Toxy. They became ‘friends for life’. Comfort always told him, ‘it’s ok just the way it is, you don’t want to be a rock star, do you?’ Then, Procrastination always told him you can do it tomorrow, she always served him a glass of wine on Friday and a nice bucket of ice cream on Sunday, and she used to say, ‘just so you know, there will be another time to chase your dreams..’ Toxy told him that other people are talented but not him. Toxy told him that it was not enough to aim for the stars and pursue his dreams. Toxy told him that his dreams were crazy, insane and unrealistic. Toxy also told the Dreamer that the glory days are not for average people like him.
And so the dreamer continued his life, with Comfort, Procrastination and of course little Toxy staying close by his side. And so, he lived his entire life following a routine, with a pretty easy day-to-day existence and no more struggles than the average man was meant to have.
Then the years went by…
Since that memorable spring when he sat on the bench, the young dreamer had worked hard in the nearby city for the last thirty years just as the wind advised.
After thirty years of a decent routine, he retired and went back to the park .
The dreamer sat down on the bench, as he had done thirty years earlier and opened his notebook from that time. It seemed like yesterday, only that the spring had changed into winter.
The flowers had lost their petals already, the trees were covered in white snow, the butterflies were gone, and the only thing the young dreamer could recognise was the wind, now harsh and joyless, crushing memories from the past over sad frozen trees.
The wind said: “you had thirty years of a nice routine and an easy life. You had easy life and nice comfortable job. I presume you have no regrets.” Dreamer had not responded to that.
He looked at his notebook and thought to himself: “I was wise and courageous…I had dreams on paper… the whole world was waiting to be conquered… yet here I am…
I have not achieved my dreams, but I have lived a pretty decent life. Yet, something is missing, although I had a good job, I had no butterflies in my stomach…I had an easy life, but no sparks lighting up the nights, I had nice days passing me by, but I had no clear direction and no road to look forward to following everyday.
Now the freezing wind is crushing me to the bottom of my heart… now I am old and the time is gone. I listened to the warm wind, and the friends that he sent me who told me: ‘put your dreams and ambitious goals on hold… it’s just not worth it.
The only proof that all my ideas, pursuits, and dreams existed sometime in the past is the notebook… but it’s too late… too late…”
Wake up! - The young dreamer heard from a distance. Luckily, the dreamer was only experiencing a nightmare.
The dreamer woke up half way through his life and said to himself: “hey, how lucky I am to have had such a bad dream, how lucky that this was just a nightmare, that I had already retired and…where is the notebook, where is the notebook…?!
I’ve got to find my notebook, I’ve got to chase my dreams, keep the butterflies, bring sparks to my life. I need to set the goals, and set my purpose on the road…”
Sounds familiar? Where would you go, if you were not afraid? Where would you go, if you gave up on comfort, procrastination, toxic people?
Keep the notebook open, write your dreams, check up on yourself sometimes, rest if needed, but keep the notebook open. :)
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Still hungry for storytelling? Read my book: Dreamford!
