This is a piece I wrote for orgFORK, a company my friend Suzi started.
While her focus is on health and nutrition, she wanted to acknowledge that living happily and positively also impacts overall wellness.
So I wrote this about pursuing your dreams, because arguably that’s what we’re doing (or want to be doing) every single day. And whatever we choose to do every single day has a direct effect on our health, happiness and general feeling of well-being.
It’s loooong but I hope you find it interesting and relatable! I’d love to hear what you think as well so don’t be shy! Email me anytime at edenking@live.com, use the quick Contact page or message me on facebook. I love hearing from you guys!
xxx
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Pursuing your dreams – it’s a strange concept, isn’t it?
Sometimes dreams are scary. Other times they don’t make sense.
Are dreams an expression of our innermost desires? Or are they a bunch of random events coincidentally put together by our tired minds?
Either way, why would you want to pursue them?
I’m sure you’ve been encouraged to follow your dreams at some stage. So I’m going to write about what happens when you finally do.
Life, like a dream, is uncertain. It’s a daunting thought, but you never know when or where either is going to end. So by chasing our dreams, it might seem that we are surely setting ourselves up for failure. We’re running at full speed to a place we don’t even know exists.
It didn’t cross my mind that I was pursuing my dream until Suzi asked me to write on the topic. At first, I felt flattered. Society tells us the road to happiness is paved by following our dreams. But then it occurred to me – you never actually know you’re dreaming while you’re dreaming. And that goes for people “living” their dream too. Sometimes you have to be given a little tap on the shoulder, a little acknowledgement, to wake up and realise where you are and what you’ve been doing.
At night, my dreams have always been similar to blockbuster films. A mix of drama, action, horror and comedy. I’m thoroughly entertained when I wake up, and often wonder how on earth my brain is capable of putting together such sequences. But by day, I’ve always understood my dream – to be a successful singer and songwriter. But here’s the thing about crystal clear dreams; the clearer they are, the scarier it can be to follow them, because you know the exact steps involved to achieve them, so there’s really no excuse for failure.
And that’s been my setback. Until recently, I’d been scared to take the first step. When I was a teenager, I didn’t disclose my dream to anyone. I thought it was a terrible cliche to say you wanted to be a singer (to this day, I prefer ‘recording artist’ as it carries less whimsical connotations). I studied law, criminology, behavioural science, make-up artistry, and worked in retail, hospitality and call centres… but nothing satisfied me. They weren’t bad dreams, but I knew I was traveling in the wrong direction.
When I finally admitted my dream (like an addict revealing their addiction), it made everything more real. Slowly, the dream was becoming an active part of my daily life. It was brought up in conversations, and people started asking me about it when we’d catch up. I was studying music at uni, recording songs and rehearsing with a local coverband. I’ll call this stage “light sleep” because I wasn’t deeply immersed in anything in particular.
Everything kicked into gear around the same time, but like all good things, it happened ever so gradually. I made a website, started writing a blog, and nervously uploaded my songs onto a facebook page. I still don’t know how people like Rihanna feel when they reach 10 million followers, because for me, every ‘like’ and ‘share’ on facebook felt like a huge hug. Any encouragement did the opposite of inflate my ego – it humbled me and gave me a reason to keep going.
Initially, I would read my emails dubiously. Was there really someone from Los Angeles who wanted to collaborate with me? Were people really asking me to post them autographed pictures? I can’t tell you how strange it feels to be let into the lives of others that you might never meet. But like all dreams, you just accept the scenario and roll with it.
Of course, even dreams aren’t all fun and games, and there are still bills to pay. When I got a job at Michael Parisi Management, it felt odd informing my friends that I now worked at a record label with connections around the world. Was that really what I was doing every day? Had my boss really worked with the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Madonna? I remember physically pinching myself when I got the opportunity, which has since opened so many doors in terms of contacts, as well as provided a crash course into the infamous music industry. With a dark side equally as strong as the bright, I guess I’ll have to tiptoe carefully to avoid falling into a nightmare. But the bright side is just as infectious, and I find myself like a moth to a flame.
The road to achieving my dreams is still so long, and full of more twists and turns, I’m sure. But I’ve finally accepted my dream as an unconscious desire that festers within me, and no matter how hard I tried in the past, it just can’t be diminished. I want to be one of those people who never works a day in their life, because their profession fulfills their appetite for work, rest and play. And at least now, I have that little extra confidence knowing that I’m chasing something which truly makes me happy (unlike those tattooed, troubled boys that I unfortunately pursue as well).
Everybody’s dream is different. So my advice? Maybe just pinch yourself every day. You might not know that you’re actually dreaming.
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EDEN KING 