Hi. Are you lost?
Are you feeling trapped in an endless cycle?
Do you feel as though your daily life revolves around your work?
And when you come home from work, you have just enough energy to fulfill the rest of your non-work responsibilities?
On the days that you don’t work, do you spend that time either trying to forget about work, or recovering from work so that you can go back to work again?
Sometimes, lost in a daydream or perhaps drifting in and out of sleep, you catch a glimpse of something else. Something just for you, or maybe something that is you. Something you forgot about, or something you hadn’t quite pieced together. Before you can figure out which, it slips through your fingers. You shake it off; after all, you’ve got to get to work.
But, why?
The question lingers in the air for a moment.
Because we need to make a living, that’s why. We can’t all be artists or authors or other dreamers’ professions.
We can’t all be dreamers.
Can we?
Or, can we…
Actually, we can.
We are.
We’re all dreamers. We have the capacity to dream.
We just… Got a little lost.
In the beginning we were perfectly comfortable at home with ourselves. At some point, we stepped outside ourselves a bit to experience the world.
Out there in the world, it turned out our selves were different from other peoples’ selves, and maybe that was uncomfortable.
Out there in the world were opportunities, successes, experiences, more opinions and advice than we could ever need to accomplish anything we wanted, as long as we worked hard enough.
And as long as it fit the mold waiting for us, out there in the world.
If I’m lost, how do I get found?
You don’t.
You find.
Find the spark, the glimmer, that “something” you used to only see in glimpses. That inner voice that reminds you of home.
You’ve grown so much since venturing out into the world! What else can you find in the things that you found along the way?
Set out on a new journey. An epic, creative journey.
Find, practice, and reinforce your authentic voice. Nurture it – let it be open, let it grow and develop, embrace it in the face of fear, stand strongly by it in the face of dissent. Imbue it with the love and attention that it deserves.
That you deserve.
Protect what you find in there. You can acknowledge the fear. You can welcome the dissent. Allow both to be confirmation that you are moving, and movement is the action you need to take. Set a boundary that neither of these things will permeate so far as to shut you down. They may only enter so far as to keep you open to new ideas, new points of view, so that you may continue to develop your authentic voice.
Find your magic.
On your journey, you will find more and more of who you are, of what you love. On your journey you will dream your biggest dreams yet. On your journey you will move, and each step will be in the direction of your greatest dreams.
Dream big, and then dream bigger – your dream is the most loving expression of yourself, and perhaps the greatest gift you could give to the world.
This is the creative journey. It’s not a path you find, and it’s not a path you’re given.
It’s one you make.
You were given a path, though: one with everyone else on it. The path was long and well-trodden. You didn’t have to take too many risks, and you didn’t have to think too hard about the bends and turns, because you could just follow the people head of you on the same path.
You could see more-or-less where it lead because so many have walked it before you.
It felt right. You felt belonging, community, and companionship. The people on the path with you offer you advice and encouragement to carry on the path, and they celebrate your progress with you.
Except somehow you still got lost while surrounded by people on the same path as you.
And for some reason, you can’t shake that glimmer of something magical, alluring, curious, waiting in the shadows far from the path. A hint of the big dream that nobody else can see.
Now you have a choice.
You can keep following the well-trodden path. You like the comfort and assuredness that walking with others gives you. You like knowing where the path leads.
Or you can start to carve a new path – your own path – and it will be scary and lonely and full of unknown surprises… But there’s magic over there.
If only you could find that magic!
You see how leaving the well-trodden path also means diverging from all those who brought comfort and safety and well-meaning advice.
You also see how finding that magic – your magic – could be the most loving act, not just for you but for all of those who also wish for a little magic in their lives.
You wonder… Who else on the path is lost?
Be brave. Wander. Make your way. Find. Stretch the boundary of belief in yourself, and in what’s possible.
You take the first step off the path.
You can’t wander off the path – you truly will be lost!
The words echo in the air as you set out on your journey. They strike fear in your heart. You let the fear reassure you that you’re moving in the direction of your greatest dreams, and you do not let it go any further.
The echo fades further into the distance with each step you take into the unknown.
You are a dreamer.
“Not all those who wander are lost.”
– J.R.R. Tolkien.
