Often our dreams change. They have to. Life has a way of changing us and the way we see things. Situations often cause this. Getting married, having children, just plain old paying the bills can change the focus of our dreams. Where once we dreamed of success or fame, we find that dream has shifted to our children.
Another situation that can cause our dreams to change is time, or the sudden awareness of it. We get older. It's a fact. As we get older, life throws up more obstacles to thwart and challenge our dreams. Work, marriage, divorce, children, and health are just some of the things that can cause us to change or even lose sight of our dreams.
Sometimes we even turn our backs on the dream that we've had for years. This is not done lightly. It usually involves a lot of soul searching and re-evaluation. It is never an easy decision and it is usually pretty painful. The end result is sadness and a realisation that perhaps the dream was never attainable or unrealistic. This happens to most people and it's a damn shame, but it is part of life.
Time is the biggest obstacle to dreams we want to pursue. Time is fleeting, elusive and an illusion. I know what you're thinking. How, you ask, is time an illusion? It's simple if you think about it. When you were a child, time seemed to be an infinite thing. Remember school holidays? Summer break from school lasted practically forever. Now, if you are a parent, you'll have noticed school summer "hols" are over almost before they begin. And although time is a constant, our perception of it changes with age. Time appears to go faster. See? Time is an illusion.
My daughter and I watched the brilliant film, The Bucket List the other day. For those of you who are not aware of this wonderful film, I'll give you the Readers Digest version of the plot. Two very different men - Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson- are given a prognosis of impending death. Morgan Freeman's character is making a "bucket list," in other words, things to do before you "kick-the-bucket." The two men then start trying to full-fill the list. I thought of the film again today after talking about a colleague, that I have known and liked for years, who shuffled off his mortal coil suddenly and unexpectedly. He was not much older than I am. I wondered if he had a "bucket list" and if he felt he had accomplished everything he wanted. If he had achieved any of his dreams...Did he even have any dreams.
My dreams over the years have been folded, stapled, and mutilated. They have been usurped by marriage - twice, divorce - twice, children - twice, various job changes, and various life experiences. These are all things that, if given a choice...I WOULDN'T CHANGE FOR THE WORLD.
I believe that even though time can be a real stinker, I can still have my dreams and pursue them. I may have to change them a bit, but, they'll continue to live in me despite time and various other influences in my world that have tried to destroy them.
Time may cheat us from realising our dreams, but time can never kill our dreams. Only we can do that.
Been contemplating about the nature of time these past few months myself. Just how it seems to go by so fast that it seems to be a nonentity, yet, when we do take the time to slow down (a topic you spoke about in a previous post) its presence becomes so clear and prevalent in our lives. Then, to hear your much more "been there, done that" perspective on the topic only to end on such a hopeful note is, what I feel, makes it that much more rewarding to read this. Thanks.
ReplyDelete