Are you following your bliss?

I just had a birthday, and let’s just say I’m closer to entering retirement than I am to entering college. For readers who may be way younger than me, you might not “feel” what I’m going to write about (although one day you will).

I used to think I had all the time in the world to accomplish my goals. But this year it dawned on me that all those trite, old sayings are really true – time goes by quickly, it doesn’t last forever and at some point we all need to follow the Nike admonition to “Just Do It.”[pullquote]Aren’t we all busy? Don’t we all sort of complain about what we “wish” we could do if we could just find the time (or the energy or the money or the courage). I know I do.[/pullquote]

Life’s little wakeup calls 

It wasn’t just the birthday that caused these thoughts to bubble to the top of my head. I also lost my 82-year-old dad this past year, and when I started doing the math, I realized that his ripe old age is only about 25 years away for me, give or take a few.

Twenty five years. Sounds like a good chunk of time, but is it really? Anyone over 40 knows how quickly the years zoom by, all in little bite-sized increments — one year here, five years there, then suddenly 20 years or so have passed.

It’s never too late — usually

My dad always talked about wanting to write “The Great American Novel.” He could have, too, with all his wild and interesting stories from his 60 years as a world traveling journalist —  reporting on wars, chronicling six decades of world events and interviewing US Presidents, world royalty, Mafiosos and Hollywood stars. But dad waited. He waited for the right time. For his work to slow down. For the planets to align. He waited too long, and he never saw his dream of finishing his book come true.[pullquote]“My life feels incomplete because I held a dream in my mind instead of letting it soar and have a life.”[/pullquote]

He wasn’t so different than many of us, me included.  Aren’t we all busy? Don’t we all sort of complain about what we “wish” we could do if we could just find the time (or the energy or the money or the courage). I know I do.

Lee Woodruff writes on this very subject of following dreams, even if its a bit late. She just completed her first novel and says that in spite of putting things off and getting sidetracked, its never too late to get started — or restarted — to fulfill your dreams. I fully agree – every day is a new opportunity to start anew. Realistically, however, we don’t have unlimited time to tinker around with our dreams. I suppose its a delicate balance of  “you’re never too old to start, but do it now when you can.”  As Joseph Campbell says, “Follow your bliss…”

Words from the future

The importance of really following my bliss hit home recently when I read the journal I kept in 1997 while working through the kickass writing exercises of the The Artist’s Way. One exercise was to write a letter to yourself from the future about what you’ve learned and where you ended up. My letter to me was from my 80-year-old self. I wrote it from the perspective that I never followed my dream to become a writer, and this is how life would feel in the future because I was too afraid to try. When I wrote it in 1997, I was not yet a writer, although it was my lifelong dream. Here are some of the thoughts I wrote to myself:

“Time doesn’t stop and in order to enjoy life you mustn’t squander time.”

“Follow your dreams. At 80 years old, I look back and think of all the decades I said I wanted to be a writer, but I never took the leap of faith. I will die now not ever knowing if I was good at it, if it was satisfying, or what the outcome was.”

“My life feels incomplete because I held a dream in my mind instead of letting it soar and have a life.”

“Remember when you were so young and first realized you wanted to be a writer? Then you were 17, then 25, 30 and 40. Each year you dreamed of pursuing writing and each year you said it was too scary, too much work, or you didn’t have time.”

“Just write.”

Every day is a new opportunity

I’ll tell ‘ya, there’s nothing like reading a letter from yourself  filled with disappointment and sadness to make you realize that it’s really up to you to make your dreams happen. I now think about that letter every time I avoid a task that will get me closer to my dream. Like Woodruff said in her article,  “…anything, really, is possible….And if you want it badly enough, you WILL find a way to get it done. …I’m living proof. And I’m certifiably over 50. Fabulous freaking fifty.”

And so am I. For you younger readers, you too will be here one day. So, start now!

Thanks for visiting Murphy Writes.