Living My Dreams, Part 2

Dreams are like that.  Even when you do exactly what you’ve always wanted to do, there are still difficulties and obstacles.  Often times we think if we were just doing this or that in our career; if we could just be with that beautiful woman or live in that exotic location; then everything would be perfect.

People who are older are probably chuckling by now.  No kidding they might be thinking.  There is a major difference in the generation of my parents and my generation in terms of career.  My parents’ generation and the one before them were mainly concerned with getting a job or career that provided stability for their family.  They didn’t really care if they were miserable at work, or at least didn’t care as long as it provided job security.

My generation longs for a career that makes them feel they are making a difference somehow.  We want a career that fits us and our need to contribute to the greater good.  We are not as concerned with job security, although admittedly maybe we should be more so.  There’s probably a balance somewhere between there.  My generation also jumps from job to job typically.

The way I see it, a career is going to be about a third of your life or more (8 hours a day is a third of a full day) or perhaps a little less if you don’t work weekends.  You better enjoy what you’re doing if it’s going to take up a third of your life and almost half your waking hours.  That’s my opinion at least.

What I naively thought before I chased after this dream of mine, was that it would essentially fix my bipolar disorder, I simply wouldn’t struggle with depression anymore.  How can one be depressed if you’re living your dream?  Unfortunately, bipolar disorder and depression don’t just magically go away when you pursue your dreams.

Anything worth doing is going to have its difficulties.  We see this in marriage, other relationships, sports, music and careers.  If you set your mind to do something and do it well, you are inevitably going to run into obstacles along the way.  Maybe I’m a naïve optimist, but I usually hope for things to be better.  It’s part of what keeps me going.

There’s a balance between hoping for the best and preparing for the worst or whatever may come your way I think.  I usually tend to err on the side of hoping for the best, almost to a fault.  I forget details like how every summer trip had its own difficulties.  This is because I tend to look at the past with rose-tinted glasses and forget about the hard times that I’ve had in each place. 

Anyway, I’m currently living my dream.  This is exactly where I want to be in my life.  I’m doing exactly the work I want to pursue in my future career.  Someday I want to open an entrepreneurship school, hopefully within the next 3 years.  

I love my work and find a ton of value in it.  There are still obstacles to it though.  Whether it’s self-doubt about my capacity and abilities or fighting off lingering depression, it still definitely has its own troubles.  As I mentioned before though, everything worth doing has its difficulties.  We just have to decide if it’s worth fighting for.