Chase Your Dreams Today, Not Tomorrow

Chase your dreams today, not tomorrow. Easier said than done, right? 

Like everything in life, if it was easy, wouldn’t everyone do it? But there are only the minor few that follow their dreams and live to their full potential and live a life that makes them fully satisfied. 

They are the people we all want to be and we wish we had their confidence to live that life unapologetically. 

But what if we can? And why do we wait?

When is the ‘right time’?

I recently wrote a blog post about the ‘right time’. I even felt so strongly about it that I recorded a podcast episode on the same subject. 

It’s hard to know when the right time or the best time is to do anything. There are so many life things in the way at all times and if you’re like me, you don’t want to let anyone down or upset anyone by going after what you most desire when so many people depend on you for different things.

But this is when you need to be selfish if life allows you. After all, you only have one life and you owe it to yourself to live it in the best way possible.

Too many responsibilities

Life comes with a lot of responsibilities. I have a job where people depend on me. I have a flat where I pay rent, I pay council tax, I pay bills and have to work to keep this roof over my head. I have family that I want to make proud every day, and have a responsibility to be a good girlfriend to my boyfriend. 

It’s so easy to say ‘no’ to something or to not go after what you want most because of the responsibilities you have. But in a corporate job, you have to remember that you are only a number and that you are replaceable. You can leave your London apartment and your landlord will very quickly find someone else to move in. 

You’re always replaceable in this world to things like work and jobs and things that you think might matter, but in the grand scheme of things, actually don’t. 

The only people you aren’t replaceable to are your family and friends. As long as you have them around you, not matter what your job is or where you live in the world, you’ll be doing ok. 

But what is my dream?

There are so many things I want to be and want to do in this world and it’s a constant internal battle with myself about how I simply can’t do and be everything. 

So it’s hard to know what my dream actually is and what I want most in this world. Do I want to travel full time? Do I want to have my own business and be a corporate queen? Become TEFL certified and teach English? Do I want to be a writer and go back to university and study a writing degree? Or do I want to spend a year in Europe learning a language?

Being in my head is a constant struggle, but I also won’t know what I want to do or what I’m good at unless I try these things that I’m interested in. 

Why is it we feel like we have to stick to the same thing that we decided we wanted to do when we were 18. What if I do want to be a writer, why can’t I try it? What if I do want to travel the world for six months, why shouldn’t I?

It’s too risky

Of course there are many risks with throwing it all in and trying something new. What if I leave my job for six months to go travelling and struggle to get another job in PR again. That most likely won’t happen, but in my head it will. 

What if I take a year to study a writing course and don’t like it or don’t succeed as a writer? That’s perfectly ok as well and you can try something else. 

The best things in life don’t come easy, and if we don’t take these risks then we’ll never fully know what we’re good at or what we can be in life. 

I could become the world’s leading heart surgeon and I just don’t know it because I’ve never tried it or wanted to. 

But if there is something I want to try, I can’t live my life thinking ‘What if?’

But what if you succeeded?

Because imagine if you did succeed. Imagine if you tried something new and loved it. Imagine if you found the one thing that gave you so much fulfilment and it was only because you took that risk that you discovered it. 

There will be so many doubts in your head saying ‘what if you fail?’, but there is also the possibility to ask yourself, ‘but what if you succeed?’. 

Imagine how amazing your life could be then.

Why wait for tomorrow?

So if there is a risk you want to take, if there is something you want to try, then why wait?

The longer you wait, the more likely you are not to do it. And then you’ll be left with that doubt for your entire life wondering ‘what if?’.

What if I moved to Asia and loved it? What if I moved to Australia and lived my best life and found an amazing group of friends there? What if everything I dreamed of was waiting on me quitting my job and just trying. 

Don’t wait for tomorrow, because tomorrow keeps coming. Chase your dreams today.