Don’t follow your dreams, have your dreams follow you

The title above is a phrase I heard from Mike Rowe, of Dirty Jobs fame - also the voice narrating the tales of those who risked life and limb to get seafood for Vegas buffets.

If I've learned anything in my 40-plus years of life, it's that real butter is better than margarine, hands down, and that your heart can fail you, a lot. So, when I heard this statement from Mike Rowe, I couldn’t agree more.

People who say to follow your heart/dreams are setting you up for major disappointment when you fail. Does that sometimes work out? Sure. But a vast majority of the time, people lose that passion the first time they hit a roadblock. Or, when reality forces you to put aside your dreams for your family, your future, or your community, those who have been putting their heart and soul into their dreams become disillusioned with life, or worse yet, begin to despise those dreams.

For example, I've been creating stories since my youth. Yet, back then, I also had problems with language, needing special attention to help me read and write. I got better and became a relatively good reader.

I continued to write little stories or make up wild machinations throughout my life. But, to be able to eat and carry myself through college, I took on multiple jobs. Then I found a wife, and we had kids. I would continue my silly stories each step of the way, but writing a novel, telling a story that many could read and enjoy, was not in the cards.

The dream was still there; aspects of it changed my personality and helped drive me. It drove me to my wife, my wife drove me to previously unseen creative ends, and my kids became the catalyst that led to the first book I am shopping around.

And you know what? The dream I have now is a far superior version than what it was in my wild youth. I have more experience, the thoughts are better fleshed out, and the stories are far more relevant to the people I truly want to touch with them.

The dream changed my life, not because I was chasing it, but because I always carried it with me.