Dreams and Reality

I’ve managed to make a career out of dealing with reality and fact-based solutions. Admittedly, I worked in a world of technology, and with that comes a very analytical approach to everything, some would say even a handcuffed to procedures mentality. It has also bled over into my personal life which drives my wife nuts. She is a dreamer, a doer from the heart. I have seen it her work to her favor and certainly it has kept her busy with her art classes, gardening, and just about anything else she sets her mind too. When she was working in the oncology health care business, it made her a good nurse, being able to keep a humanistic approach to patients. I’m not an artistic person, although sometimes I wish I was. But I do consider writing as a form of artistic expression, but I’m sure most wouldn’t call writing a blog based on opinion as artistic expression. It probably lies more in the realm of getting-shit-of-my-chest expression than it does for creativity vision. I’ve often said I write to clear my head so I can sleep. I also can be brutally honest and often direct my opinion at those that don’t seem to think through what they are doing. I also don’t expect to make money by offering my opinion. There certainly are those that have turned their opinions into a business and career. These most obviously would be editorialist with news organizations or those that take it one step further and write a book of their opinions or have a show where they share their opinion and have guests that are equally adept at verbalizing how they feel. There must be a lot of self-worth in their opinions being they feel strongly about sharing it with the world. I have no strong urge for this, though some seem entertained in reading some of my stuff.  It is probably where dreaming melds with reality for me.

Don’t get me wrong, I know we all dream. But a realist will pick apart a dream and play out scenarios to decide whether they move forward or stop and change course. Dreamers usually fail to think about consequences and instead plow forward trying to make their dreams come to fruition based on hope and faith. Many call this following one’s heart. Realists follow their head. Education was a topic of discussion the other day, and it dawned on me that some believe education provides everything needed to succeed, where I believe education merely provides a base understanding and in time, if they are able to actually work in their field of study, time will provide experience and ultimately will get you closer to a professional expertise.

When I retired, I made a commitment to never work in the field of technology again. In fact, I decided to never work again for anyone other than myself whether this provided an income or not. I would certainly be happy only maintaining my yard and piddling around in the shop on pet projects. My dream was for years to become a writer, and I’ve pursued this interest by writing several children’s books and are now sitting on my computer knowing the next step would be to find an illustrator. You can’t have a children’s book without illustrating the words on the page. Much like my blog, the mere fact that I put it on paper, it was out of my head and allowed me to move on and is probably where they’ll stay. I wrote an autobiography that turned into a chance to remember my past and think about things that had been long archived somewhere in my brain. I doubt this will ever move forward with binding because I’m not sure anyone really cares what I did as a kid or my thoughts on work ethic. Maybe, one of my grandchildren will take it and share it with my other grandchildren simply out of curiosity. But three generations from now, I’m sure I will be nothing more than an annotation on a genealogy chart. That’s reality with no illusion of dreaming I will be some kind of legacy for all to follow. I know my place in history, and I’m sure I didn’t set the world on fire with some unique application of process that ultimately would impact others in their life. I had a job that had the potential to impact many travelers throughout the day. But unless there were delays in them arriving on time, I remained just an unknown piece successfully making their day by getting them from here to there.

At some point dreamers come face to face with reality and it is usually when a dream dies, but another dream is sure to form and be chased. If they’re lucky, one of these dreams may take hold and become something that provides growth for the future for others and themselves.

I like the fact that Jen and I are opposites and we each tend to rub off on the other. But if you’re both dreamers, there is nothing but following dreams without consequential reality. I guess there would be a bunch of highs and lows and blame on others for not having success. On the flipside, if there are two realists, they’ll talk themselves out of everything. A little dreamer will help a realist find purpose. A little reality will help a dreamer find foundational possibility. Success only follows with diligent application of both. Dreamers believe in manifestation. Realist call this motivation. Both are driven by the possibility of a dream becoming reality or a reality becoming what was expected.

Either way, something can be accomplished if all the stars align, there is a need, and anyone of us steps forward to answer the call, whether that comes from dreaming of possibilities or realizing the positives outweigh the negatives.