We all have dreams and wishes and hopes, some more “realistic” than others. But what defines that word “realistic?” Is there really a limit to the potential of what we can do, or who we can be?
Imagine being a kid and being a big fan of a band. Imagine dreaming that one day you would be up on stage singing with them. Realistic? I attended a concert some years ago where a client of mine did just that with one of her all-time favorite groups, The Marshall Tucker Band. Living her dream to be sure. It did help that she was a wonderful singer.
William Arthur Ward, a noted scholar, once said “If you can imagine it, you can achieve it. If you dream it, you can become it.” Conversely, if you don’t believe you can, then you are probably right as well.
Do you think you are too old to do something? Gandhi was 61 when he led a march against the British colonial laws in India. Grandma Moses, a famous artist, began her career in her 70s and continued painting until she was more than 100 years old. Three of my writing colleagues just had first books published while in their 50s and 60s.
Are you too young? A 13-year-old boy climbed Mount Everest. Christopher Paolini, the author of the best-selling “Eragon,” wrote the first draft when he was 15. A 16-year-old named Maura Moore-McCune was awarded an Irish Patent Certificate in 2023 for her system of detecting moving objects to be used by visually impaired people. Chester Greenwood invented earmuffs at the age of 15 in 1818. Manifesting our dreams has been going on for some time now.
Maybe you feel you are simply unable. Dick Hoyt, a legend in the Boston running community, pushed his son Rick, who has cerebral palsy, in a wheelchair in more than 1000 races including marathons. Helen Keller was an American author, disability rights advocate, political activist and lecturer after losing her sight and hearing to illness when she was 19 months old. I have watched 10-year-olds and 50-year-olds succeed in their grueling belt testing in martial arts. Perseverance personified.
Are you afraid of negative feedback? Steven King’s first novel Carrie received thirty rejections. Michael Jordan was cut from his high school basketball team. Tom Brady was the 199th pick in the sixth round of the NFL draft in 2000. We know how they all turned out!
When I was young, I wanted to be a photographer and writer. My life took a different pathway to a career in healthcare, but that desire never really left me. Fast forward some decades later, I have had photographs published in newspapers and journals, essays in print and online. My own book is in the final revisions. Our dreams may take their own time, their own pathways and require a remarkable amount of work; but they are only limited by the limitations we place on them.
We all can have restrictions of health, of age, of finances, to be sure. But goals and hopes can be adapted and may manifest in the most unexpected of ways.
As Henry Ford said, “Whether you think you can or think you can’t…you’re right.”
So, dream. Dream big. Visualize what you want and work to find the ways to manifest those dreams.
As the band Aerosmith says, “Dream on. Dream until your dreams come true.”
