How To Be A Dreamer In A Real World

I walked into Barnes and Nobles extremely excited to get my next read. A while ago, a friend and I would walk around the store together, looking at new books and reading covers for entertainment.

I peruse the store alone today , thinking about all of those times.

“I feel more like a writer now than I have in the last 10 years,” I thought as I looked at the vibrant book covers.

I used to be fake excited about seeing my book on these shelves one day. I say fake excited because though I would psych myself into believing my book would be there — I was doing absolutely no work to actually get it there.

“Somewhere over the rainbow thinking,” is what one of my old mentors would call it. It’s easy to dream and imagine and wonder but without putting in the actual work — it’s just dreams and imaginations for the sake of it.

I’ve had such a journey with writing. Giving up on it. Coming back to it. Giving up on it again. Realizing it keeps me sane so I have to do it every day but also wondering if I’ve often put unrealistic expectations on it to be a provider, healer, and soul filler.

I have been a writer my entire life but for the last ten years, I’ve had such a hard time reconciling it with our need to provide and be good stewards of money, opportunities, and children. Giving us a stable home while also fulfilling myself has been a hard, but necessary balance.

As dreamers, it’s hard to stay in both the dream world and reality. To wonder and use our imagination while also being aware and responsible for the present. To balance the mundane things like paying bills and taking vitamins with marvelous things like building characters, constructing worlds, and creating visuals from our thoughts.

It’s a hard balance that we must do — because it’s what life expects of us.

The beautiful thing, is that we can learn to do that in our own ways. In ways that make us feel good, and creative, and safe.

For me, that looks like carving out time in my days and weeks to tend to all of my needs. My creative side, my mommy side, my quiet side — because I believe that every part of me that needs fulfillment, should get space in my life.

I try to prioritize my needs, look at my schedule and then consider the possibilities — because possibility makes space for me.

And when I believe in possibility, I make space for me.

Since having this revelation, I decided to make space for my dreams and prioritize my needs. I started finding “free” time in the schedule and assigning it “writing time” on my personal and family calendar. Then I started protecting it. If writing was actually going to happen, that time had to be non-negotiable.

Then came discipline. I had to be disciplined enough to actually write during those times and not convince myself that getting a massage was more important.

So, my back hurts, but I got pieces on deck.

As artists, writers, creators, and dreamers, we have to take time to balance the two (or three or five) worlds we live in by choosing ourselves, being consistent, and finding the time in our days to serve all of us.

This is how we discover possibility — and possibility makes dreams come true.

Dreaming may seem futile and reality may rain on our imagination but if we can hold onto possibility, we can keep it all alive.

So, what part of you needs space today?