Forgetting your Dreams

I just had a sudden desire to write this blog post. It might not be something I write about very often, but I promised myself I would write almost anything that comes to my mind. As I learned early on, creating a blog post is a process in which the author takes notes of what is going on in their life. Sometimes I forget that and, consequently, waste a lot of time waiting for inspiration to hit me. This blog post is exactly what many successful bloggers suggest.

I will write about what I was thinking about last week.

People always tell you to dream big. You probably heard the phrase a couple of times in your life. Even though having dreams and goals is a good thing, there are rare mentions of how dreams can quickly fade away when we encounter hardships in life. Even more rare is advice on how to navigate during those times, and how to re-center yourself towards your dreams once again. 

The first thing to be aware of is that we often get tired. Usually, when we are exhausted, we succumb to dark thoughts about failure and our inability to perform certain tasks. For some reason, our mind is far more powerful than our body and can push it beyond its usual limits. You probably heard about people running ultramarathons using only their willpower. Our mind puts a boundary for a reason. When you do everyday tasks, your mind tells your body to conserve as much energy as possible to use later on. This way, our brain creates a balance.

I would argue that it is important to push our bodies past their limits, but not too much. If you rest all the time, you will become stagnant and sluggish, but if you push yourself too much, you can easily burn out and sacrifice the next few weeks of productivity. Rest enough so you can always be on the verge of this imaginary limit. Someone can argue that you need to push yourself all the time, but it is a sure way to start hating anything you do. Burnout could be the reason why you stopped following your dreams in the first place! Being productive is a marathon, not a race!

Try to remember why you started something. Something many of us experienced during our student years is the summer break boredom. During the school year, I often told myself that I did not have enough time for other activities I wanted to pursue. There was always studying I had to do, leaving me with no time to focus on anything other than that. I desperately waited for the summer break so that I would have time to focus on my hobbies and whatnot.

When the summer break finally came, I would find myself sleeping till noon and being far less productive than ever. I thought to myself: "When I went to school, at least I was productive with studying. Now I've become a couch potato with nothing going on in my life." 

The same thing applies to people with side hustles outside their jobs. They complain that they don’t have time to start their business and consider their vacation a perfect opportunity for their side hustle to blossom into a full-grown business model. Once vacation rolls around, people forget how much they hate their job. They are surrounded by their family and friends, and they go to the seaside and enjoy their hard work. There is nothing wrong with that, but vacation time is not the best time to start working on your side hustle.

The best time is right now!

Summary: 

I felt an urge to write this post spontaneously, staying true to my commitment to document whatever is on my mind. Blogging, for me, is a way to reflect on life, and sometimes I forget that and waste time waiting for perfect inspiration. This post is inspired by thoughts I had last week.

We’re often told to "dream big," but rarely do we hear what happens when dreams fade due to life's challenges or how to refocus when that happens. A major factor is exhaustion. When we’re tired, negative thoughts creep in, making us question our capabilities. Our minds conserve energy for a reason, but they can also push us past our limits. I believe in stretching those limits carefully. Too little effort leads to stagnation, too much leads to burnout. The key is maintaining balance so we can remain just on the edge of our full potential.

It’s also important to recall why we started something in the first place. I remember how I longed for free time during school, thinking I’d use it productively. But once summer break came, I ended up wasting time, feeling worse than when I was busy with schoolwork. The same thing happens with side hustles. People wait for the "right time", like vacations, but then get too relaxed to start. The ideal time to pursue dreams isn’t someday, it’s now.