Should your dreams really be big, hairy, audacious?
Dream Big!
We will only grow as big as we dream!
If your dreams don’t scare you, they are not big enough!
We often listen, read, and say these things. Today, now, in this moment, can you pause for a second and ponder Why? Why should my dream be big? Who am I trying to impress? What’s there to prove?
Then a voice inside you will immediately say “Why not? What if Albert Einstein never dreamt big? The world is a better place because of all those people who dreamt big.”
This is absolutely right.
But, listen to that fading voice inside you who is meekly saying “But I am not Albert Einstein and I don’t even want to be one. Why am I being judged based on the size of my dream?”
It's true, it happens. We are continuously being judged on the type, class, and size of our dreams. I recently attended a session where all of us were asked the same old standard question “Where do you see yourself 5-10 years down the line?”
Amazing replies came from all the attendees. One reply bigger than the other. As if there was a competition of let’s see who can dream bigger. One said I want to be a CEO of a company. Other said I want to own a company.
I would like to share another incident that happened at one of the weddings I attended. There were 3-4 kids playing when some uncle came and started asking “What do you want to become when you grow older?” One cute little girl said, “I want to be a Pilot”. Dream approved by Uncle. The other kid said “I want to sell flowers. I love flowers.” His dream was frowned upon by Uncle. He even called his parents and told him laughing “He is saying he wants to sell flowers”. I saw embarrassment and shame in the eyes of the parents.
I am not against dreaming big. The point I am trying to make here is that you should have full authority to dream whatever you want to dream. Be whatever you want to be. You should not let others’ way of dreaming impact your dreaming process. It's okay if you don’t want to be a CEO or own a company. It's okay if you like coding and want to be a coder for the rest of your life.
Now that we have understood this, It’s also important to understand that if we dream our way and not necessarily big, there will always be Uncles who will frown upon and won’t approve of your dream. May as well complaint to your parents about it.
Well, you know what to do with those Uncles, right?
From t=0, we have been taught big is better, the more the merrier. It’s time to question, is it really? Its time we twist the wise old sayings and turn them into these:
Dream whatever you want!
We will only be as happy as our dreams are oblivious to other’s judgment!
If your dreams don’t scare you, it means it’s not a horror dream and you might as well sleep in peace!
Keep dreaming!