Be Brave and Dream Big



Six months ago I received my degree and graduated. Since then I haven’t posted on here. Why exactly I can’t say because technically nothing has stopped me. In fact for a while, I had more than enough time to write a novel to envy the length of war and peace. But of course writing requires more than time, so much more.
Graduating isn’t easy. They tell you it won’t be. But they never said it would be quite as hard as it was quite as early on. One of my friends summed it up by saying she thought we’d all be too poor to go out drinking but would instead congregate in somebody’s home, together, poor but happy. Whereas the reality was that we were all just miserable, endless job rejections can do that to you and did to me and my friends. Too miserable to consider meeting up to attempt merriness, the non-sober kind or not. I found it horrific. And, in all honesty, still do at points. There is no longer the comfort of terms and structure and support and a net you fall back on. Now it’s time to fly the coop, properly. But so far, my experiences of flying have ended up with me falling to the ground, either immediately or after a couple of moments of deceptive flight. And falling so regularly still makes me dependant on others, either for physical or moral aid. Home for Christmas and rather envious of my cat’s easy-going life (her biggest anxiety is the black cat that’s been sleeping in our cellar), I sometimes wish I’d not wanted so much for my life post-education and that my dreams weren’t so big. If they weren’t, maybe flight wouldn’t be so hard to master.
But what is the point of living if you don’t aim high? It’s cliché but true, you do only live once and if you aim safely throughout you’ll end up with regrets and a life boring enough to send your grandchildren to sleep. Of course, your life isn’t a tale you live in order to impress future generations but it should at least be something that impresses, astonishes, amazes, excites and, yes, sometimes frightens you. Dream big dreams and do brave things. You will hit the ground. More than once. But at least you set a flight path more exciting than the nest one over from your own.
2013 is around the corner and I’ve set myself a challenge: carry on. Carry on dreaming big, being brave and setting off, or trying to. I say it’s a challenge because while 2012 in many respects was great, in many other respects it nearly beat the life out of me. But I’m still here. Dreaming big, being brave and trying to set off.
It’s easy to see when you dream big but sometimes it isn’t as easy to see when you’ve been brave. I think we tend to overlook the more common place, daily moments of courage. When you look back on your last year, or the ones previous, do make sure to celebrate these moments, they include so much. You don’t just have to jump out of an airplane to be brave. In my opinion you are brave if you have ever travelled somewhere new alone, gone to University far away from anywhere you know with nobody else you know there, started a new job not knowing one thing about the industry you are starting in, allowed yourself to fall in love, told somebody other than family you love them, started a public venture/enterprise without the sage advice/handholding of somebody with experience at every step of the way, done something others told you couldn’t and dreamt you could in the first place. I think other things can make you brave too, like going into battle, but I know very few people that is likely to happen to and, as I said, bravery can be the most common place of things and goes hand in hand with dreaming big. So be brave, dream big and have a really good 2013, you won’t get another chance at it.

If you need any advice on dreaming big and being brave, look to this chap. I think he's got absolutely the right idea.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ne-01EorQBs

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Being a 'Boomerang'

We’ve all heard it in the newspapers, radio stations, online etc, the Crisis of the Boomerang Generation. And we all know why it’s happening so I’m not going to go into the well-covered, hotly argued, very depressing statistics that explain why so many of us keep returning to the nest we were so keen to fly away from x years ago. There are, obviously, pros other than financial for living at home. For instance, it’s quite nice having somebody else cook your dinner every now and then, you’re not the only person who takes care of the laundry and the kitchen table becomes your in-house Book Club. I can pursue my creative ambitions without the worry of rent hanging over my head; I do not miss the monthly, ‘oh dear Lord am I going to make it?’ as I looked at my bank account before rent was due to leave. But what isn’t talked about so much is the guilt that accompanies all of this. I feel guilty. I’m living off my parents, rent free, I don’t work 40 hours a week because I’m trying out a
Read more

A New Year. A 'New You'?!

I tend not to do the whole New Year's resolutions thing. I did once, aged 8 or so, write down all the bad habits I wanted to put an end to and burn the page. But I'm pretty sure it didn't last long. I don't think they work. Not because it isn't a good idea, starting fresh with the change of the year makes sense. You never want to start a new fitness regime/healthier eating/better bedtime/less internet use etc etc mid-week, it's far too tiring to try and change when you're just trying to make it to the end of the week. And often the same often goes for mid-month so using the New Year to help make changes is almost natural. But the idea of a 'resolution' doesn't stick. Normally they are things like 'do more exercise', 'drink less', 'eat better', 'read more', 'have less sex with strangers', 'have more sex with strangers', 'go out more' etc etc. Aims. But not actually something you can call a
Read more

Causes Worth Fighting For 1#

I want to take the time to talk about some causes that are close to my heart. The causes in this post and the one to follow are a variety of causes and some you may have heard of but I suspect that one or two of them you have not. Care for Aids (https://twitter.com/CAREforAIDS, careforaids.org) Care for Aids is a charity I discovered when I spent time in Kenya in 2009. I'll be honest, I don't know who set it up or where their head office is, who runs the company etc. Not because I don't care but because I approached the organisation another way, volunteering through the connections between Care for Aids and the company I was out in Kenya with. This meant that I was thrust into the heart of the action, giving hands on care and so the also very important but separate 'office stuff' I didn't become involved with. Care for Aids is set up on the principle that the most effective way to help those affected by Aids and HIV is to empower them. They provide holist
Read more