Living The Dream – Another Life Lesson

Living the dream is something you may hear from people who are living their preferred kind of life and lifestyle.

The reason I’m writing about it in this short article today is because of a link someone sent to me in an email.

The link was to a short animated film called “Alike” (about 8 minutes) and it has an exceptionally powerful message…..for me anyway, and perhaps for you too if you decide to take a look.

Decide for yourself and see if it has any meaning for you…..

Are You Living The Dream?

Watching this wonderful film caused me to reflect on a number of things:

• how our dreams can be so fragile, and so easily snuffed out
• how we can become trapped in living the commonly accepted model of life – get an education and then spend the next 40 years of your life working 40 hours a week for someone in order to retire on about 40% of your regular income
• that as parents we have a role to nurture our kids in a way where dreaming and aspiring are encouraged and not pushed aside as shown in the film because that is not the model most people choose to live by
• how often in my own adult life I’ve dared to dream but didn’t have the courage to pursue them – always weighed down by responsibilities, having a “settle for what I have” attitude to life
• how grateful I am that in my autumn years to dare to dream that other things are possible in my life and to do something about it

And, one of my biggest realisations is that we need to regularly check in with ourselves and ask the question “Am I living the dream?”

If the answer is no, then we have a couple of options:

• Either put up with what is, or
• Look for a way to make the changes needed so you can be living the dream

If You’re Not Living The Dream It Doesn’t Have To Remain That Way!

Something I decided to do was to look for ways to put myself in charge of my financial security and how I use my time.

Some 20 years or so ago I was told that the only security in life is that which you create for yourself.

To me, this meant finding a way to work for myself and to develop a sustainable income for me and my wife in our retirement years (yes, we are now retired from our careers!).

Finally, about 4 years ago I finally learned to listen and look for opportunities that would allow me to break free and this is what I found.

As a result of what I saw I quickly realised that as a result of what I’d learned through my career, and through life generally that I had knowledge and skills to share.

But more than that was the realisation that there were people in the world who wanted to learn what I could teach.

The missing link was……how to actually do it.

Take a look, maybe there’s something in this for you too, so that you can start living the dream – your version of it!