{"id":39,"date":"2015-03-18T04:24:11","date_gmt":"2015-03-18T04:24:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/prolificpreambles.com\/?p=39"},"modified":"2015-03-22T18:34:34","modified_gmt":"2015-03-22T18:34:34","slug":"how-i-outran-my-dream","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/prolificpreambles.com\/?p=39","title":{"rendered":"How I Outran My Dream"},"content":{"rendered":"

I attest, to outrun a dream is complex – but definitely doable.\u00a0 <\/em><\/p>\n

My dream was to be a writer and surround myself with words.<\/p>\n

For twenty years, I forgot how to make life choices for myself.\u00a0 Much of what I was doing over the years was not what I wanted to do.\u00a0 I was complacent and tolerated my circumstances.\u00a0 Sound familiar?<\/p>\n

To chart a different course and accept the daunting task of living my dream seemed overwhelming.\u00a0 There were numerous times in my life I wanted to decipher and decode my emotional obstacles, but my uncertainty, circumstances, and poor choices got in the way.\u00a0 I surely did not derive pleasure from the path I was on. Perhaps, I was not supposed to let my life lead me.\u00a0 I was supposed to lead it.<\/p>\n

Why do I share this?\u00a0 Because it matters.\u00a0 We all have dreams and most of us fail to act on them.<\/p>\n

Well, without realizing it – I outran my dream!<\/p>\n

How did I do this?\u00a0 Very easily.\u00a0 I ignored what I set out to do.\u00a0 I gave up and went onto other ventures that were not making me happy.\u00a0 For many years I neglected to give myself the freedom and permission to follow my fancies.\u00a0 My days of daydreaming disappeared.\u00a0 Life, with its responsibilities, put blinders on me.\u00a0 I missed my turn to capture my bliss.\u00a0 I was sidetracked by adult duties and dashed right past my dream.<\/p>\n

I had to turn around – immediately.<\/p>\n

Without hesitation, I stopped allowing myself to be distracted.\u00a0 It was challenging to ignore the different ideas everyone else had for me.\u00a0 When I did tune out their input, it became clear their advice was more appropriate for them \u2013 not me.<\/p>\n

Determining what was best for me was perplexing.\u00a0 I wasn\u2019t sure if purpose in life was something we were born with or something we could find and foster.\u00a0 Whatever the answer, I was not going to pass by my dream again \u2013 even with my adult responsibilities\u2019 badgering me. I stopped playing by the rules, both societal and generational, and devised my own playbook.\u00a0 I no longer wanted to be stuck, lost and unhappy.\u00a0 My apathy vanished.\u00a0 I began to understand that my perceived failures and the deviations in my life decisions<\/em> were only minor speedbumps in my race to dreamland.<\/p>\n

No fancy tricks – just determination and desire this time.<\/p>\n

Being alone with my thoughts.\u00a0 Learning new things.\u00a0 Making a difference with words.\u00a0 Feeling no pressure to perform.\u00a0 These four things helped me understand there was an inconsistency between my wants and needs.\u00a0 They were strides toward my dream.<\/p>\n

I was finally chasing my dream.\u00a0 My dream is to write and be surrounded by words.\u00a0 These small units of language make me happy, content and satisfied.\u00a0 At the end of each day, I now feel that I have been truly honest and open with myself.\u00a0 It was a wise choice for me to go back to my dream.\u00a0 Today I am living it and it gives me immense pleasure and purpose.<\/p>\n

Do not make my mistake and run past your dream, catch it the first time.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

First Published at Elephant Journal:\u00a0http:\/\/www.elephantjournal.com\/2015\/03\/how-i-accidentally-outran-my-dream\/<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a9 2015 Shannon Hogan Cohen<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I attest, to outrun a dream is complex – but definitely doable.\u00a0 My dream was to be a writer and surround myself with words. For twenty years, I forgot how to make life choices for myself.\u00a0 Much of what I was doing over the years was not what I wanted to do.\u00a0 I was complacent […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":41,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-empowerment","category-inspire","category-self"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/prolificpreambles.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/prolificpreambles.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/prolificpreambles.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prolificpreambles.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prolificpreambles.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=39"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/prolificpreambles.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":44,"href":"https:\/\/prolificpreambles.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39\/revisions\/44"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prolificpreambles.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/41"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/prolificpreambles.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=39"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prolificpreambles.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=39"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prolificpreambles.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=39"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}