Oh, You Can Get It But You Can't Keep It: The Challenge of Living Our Dreams

People are forever talking about living out their dreams, achieving their dreams, catching dreams, etc. What does that even mean? How do we know, if and when we have achieved our dream? Why is it that some of us appear to be able to live out our dreams, while the rest of us seem to lose what we dreamed about? 

Usually, we try to convince ourselves that we simply had the WRONG dream. Why do we do that? 

Is there any hope of getting what we dream of and KEEPING it? I believe there is a way. As usual, it requires work. It's always simple but never easy. Am I right? 

First, we should probably establish what the heck a "dream" is. According to Merriam -Webster (the dictionary, folks), a "dream" is a cherished aspiration, ambition, or ideal. 

Wow. That's pretty great. Every one of us has a cherished aspiration, ambition or ideal. They can come in a variety of forms. For example, I have an ideal body weight. I DEFINITELY CHERISH my ideal body weight.  Let's look at me and my ideal body weight as we go through the steps of keeping a dream. 

I believe that to keep what we dream of, we have to do "dream maintenance." 

Maintenance requires us to know our purpose. It requires planning. Planning requires us to prepare and be organized.

1. Know your purpose 
2. Make a plan 
3. Be prepared and organized

Maintenance implies an on-going process that may be un-ending and ever evolving. For something to not end and to evolve means that it grows. If something grows, it's alive. Stay with me, now:

Let's say I've achieved my ideal body weight -- (I haven't yet but that's beside the point. This is just an illustration. Don't judge me). What will happen, should I revert back to unhealthy habits? Will I MAINTAIN my ideal body weight? Nope. 

So, what must I do to keep my dream of weighing what I think I should weigh? I plan my meals. I plan my meals for the purpose of controlling my intake of calories and monitoring what foods I eat. Creating a meal plan requires me to be organized. 

I will forever be conscious of what I eat, how I eat it and what I'm doing it all for. Over time, I change. My thoughts around food and well-being...evolve. I LIVE a better and healthier life. BOOM. 

These dream maintenance steps can be applied to anything. The real question is -- Do we have a real dream? If so, we should be willing to do the work to get it and keep it. 

You have just been served some truth, today. Take this little gem and go be another person's sunshine!