When Your Dreams & Reality Don’t Mesh
I think for most of us, as little girls and teens, we dreamt of life as an adult. Where we would live, where we would travel, our job, our social life, our dream home, and on and on. We had dreams, big dreams. Then you become an adult, and what happens? You realize it’s hard, really hard. I’m going to talk about how you can cope when your dreams and reality just don’t mix.
For many of us, our vision of our adult life that we once dreamed of is far different than the reality we sit in day to day. Sometimes you fight your reality. You don’t like where you are and what you have to face, so you’re angry, sad, or a big mix of emotions. You may find it difficult to even function at times.
Perspective and How it Affects Everything
I mean, isn’t anything easy? I have found the answer is no. There are things that are easy. There are some that are easier, but, in general, each day brings new challenges. And guess what? It’s okay. Challenges are not automatically a bad thing. The key to all of this is perspective.
Being aware of your perspective and how it may differ from others is important. If you view challenges as negative, uncomfortable, and generally awful, then you are much more likely to struggle through every twist and turn that happens in your life.
Changing Your Perspective
Changing your perspective, literally, can change so much about your life. Think about it for a minute. If I view a task as hard, and every time it comes to mind, I automatically think, “ugh, it’s going to be so hard”, what do you think will happen? Chances are, the task is going to be a struggle. Why? Because my perspective said so. If you have a positive perspective then challenges become learning opportunities and our reality (aka the life we’re living) becomes so much better. If you think back to some of your past struggles, oftentimes, we can identify one or more things we learned from the event as well as one or more ways we’ve grown as a person. I encourage you to give that a try, too. Grab a piece of paper and jot down what comes to mind. You may be surprised.
Keep Dreaming
I’m here to tell you to NEVER stop dreaming. Yes, some of our dreams we had as little girls may never come true. For example, I’m not going to be a famous singer, but since I really can’t hold a note, it’s a good thing. I believe that you should keep dreaming. Dreaming gives us hope, and in my opinion, hope keeps us going in many ways. Don’t listen to people who laugh at your dreams or minimize them. Their dreams are not your dreams.
Turning your Dreams into Reality
I encourage you to put your dreams down on paper. Now, you’ve got goals. Then, break those goals down into steps. Now you have actions steps to make your dreams happen. For more help on goal setting, check out my blog post here.
The little girl, full of innocent excitement about the future, is still inside of you. Don’t listen to the world and the nay sayers. Tap into your dreams. I believe that you have them for a reason. You are here in this life because you bring unique gifts and talents to this world. You fill a void that you probably have no idea about. Keep dreaming beautiful!
Do you struggle at times to cope with all that life’s thrown at you? Do you have dreams that you want to go after but feel overwhelmed or hopeless? I’d love to talk more about how I can help. Email me at Maria@fullpotentialcounseling.com to get started.