What is it that you wish you had done when you were younger? What is a dream that you wish you had pursued?
Whether we are 9 or 99 years old, each and every one of us have dreams that we wish we had pursued. They linger inside us, like an ember from a fire covered in dirt, just waiting for you to kick off the dirt and bring it to life.
I get it, you’re busy right? I mean after all you’ve got a family and kids and… do you know what else you still have? YOUR DREAMS, they keep calling at you from inside of you, inviting you to pursue them because it’s fun and also helps you grow and come alive!
You may be saying, Joseph, I just don’t have time for that right now, when the kids are gone, when work quiets down, when life get’s a bit simpler, THEN I will chase my dreams.
Hey I get it and I respect that you believe those are the reasons that you tell yourself, but RIGHT NOW is always the right time to pursue your dreams. Especially if you have kids because they will see you chasing your dreams and how excited you are and they will want to do the same. Even if you start out with just a few minutes here and there each day, if you want to wake up to the fullness and joy of life, pursue your dreams!
You may be saying, Joseph, it would be selfish for me to chase my dreams. I have other more important things to do, and I’m here to tell you that there is almost nothing more important than taking steps towards your dream.
Your dreams and desires are GOD given, I mean after all where did they come from? They come from GOD, he gives them to you because he knows what will make you the happiest and also make you learn and grow. And if you are thinking to yourself, it would seem crazy to pursue my dreams right now, then I completely understand. I feel that way at times as well and because it doesn’t make sense to me, I won’t even pursue mine at times.
But when I do, it feels amazing! I feel alive, I feel excited.
Howard Thurman said, “Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and GO DO IT. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.
Do you know what really makes me feel most alive?
When I take on things that to me that I’ve wanted to for years, but that I have put off.
As I said before, whether you are 9 or 99, we all have things that we wished we would have done when we were younger.
A few of mine- I wish I would have played basketball in high school and beyond, I wish I would have played guitar instead of wasting time even until junior high playing the trumpet—. I wish I would have been in more plays, and the list goes on an on.
Guess what? Everyone of us have one of these list! What many people do is they take that list, roll it up into a scroll and beat themselves over the head with it. I don’t recommend this. I recommend unrolling that list and reading it, and then going and doing the things that you still can that are on that list.
I know and understand that I can never go back and play high school basketball, and I can live with that, but I can play guitar and other things and I DO!
In my twenties, I often had a Simpson’s wall calendar, and on these calendars the Simpsons characters were drawn into some really cool parody movie posters. Often I would look at these and think about how cool it would be to draw my own version one.
One day, I took a step and bought a book on how to draw the Simpson’s characters and I had experimented with it a tiny bit, but it mostly just sat on my shelf, gathering dust.
Then finally for whatever reason, in 2019, I made it a goal to draw all of the Simpson’s characthers, I do want to point out, I was not a natural artist, and aside from some grade school mandatory art class had no professional art training. And I did draw a few of those Simpson’s characters but not all of them.
Then in early 2020, I had this beautiful spiritual experience where I felt inspired to start what’s called “The It’s Possible Challenge” and take on challenges that felt impossible to me and just throw myself into them.
So what was the first one that I took on? It was to finish what I started in 2019 and draw the rest of those Simpson’s characthers, and guess what? I did it! And how long do you think that it took me? 50 hours? 100 hours? More?
Nope, to my surprise and a bit of sadness, I can say that it took me about 11 hours or so!
Now, why do I say sadness? Because it was only 11 HOURS!! 11 hours was all it took to complete something I really wanted to do. Most weeks, I spend more than 11 hours watching television… 11 hours !! That’s it. I could have done that all along.
Now, instead of getting frustrated with myself for not doing it earlier, I have taken on many other challenges. I’ve now drawn a few Simpson’s parody scenes, one of Homer as the Joker on the iconic Brooklyn steps which you can see here.
And another of the Simpson’s kids as batman characters which you can see here as well.
I’m pretty proud of each of these. I’ve even drawn an entire Simpsons comic strip, which still makes me laugh to this day, which you can see here as well.
I remember a specific experience when I was drawing Homer as the Joker. I had promised myself I would be finished by the next morning, and it was already 11 PM.
I had gotten quite a bit done but I still had two giant gaping white spaces where the walls for the scene needed to be drawn in perspective, I didn’t know how I was going to do it, I was drawing in Adobe Illustrator and I kept accidently pressing this button that would bring up these strange lines and then in that 12th hour, I realized that button would help me draw those walls, and I did it and when I finished, it felt so amazing! Often when we just move forward, Heavenly Father provides exactly what we need, when we need it.
Even as I write this now, I am remembering how alive I felt by completing these challenges. Sure, during the moment, they felt very challenging and I didn’t know how I was going to get them done and at times other things looked more fun and enjoyable. But I don’t regret a single moment that I spent working on these “It’s Possible” challenges.
And yes I too get caught up in all the noisy random thinking in my head about whats the right thing to do or whether it’s right to pursue my dreams, but when I just recognize all that as noise, ignore it and keep moving forward anyways.
I’m learning the only right way to do anything, is just by doing the thing. It doesn’t matter how things get done, it just matters that they get done.
So if you are ready to feel what it feels like to come alive and wake up to the fullness and the awesomeness of you, then start chasing your dreams. And if you want a bit of a nudge and bit of guidance, consider reaching out an amazing coaching like myself that’s been helping people come alive and pursue their dreams for 20+ years now. (Click Here To Inquire About Coaching)
What dream has stirred inside of you as you have read this today? Go take the next step towards it right now and then the next one and you just might find yourself pursuing your dream and waking up to the awesomeness of you!