Photo by Courtnie Tosana on Unsplash
The more I talk to people, the more I’m struck at how every one of us have beautiful dreams for our lives.
Unfortunately, many of us get resigned to the idea that such ideas are simply the tale of fiction. After all, we could never ever achieve something as preposterous as that.
But we were born to dream. It wasn’t a mistake. Nor was it a cruel torturous method to dangle a carrot in front of our faces that we were never destined to reach.
Instead, it’s life’s way of pushing us out of our comfort zone. To yearn for something bigger, better, more exciting, more fulfilling. Without the dream, we would stay sitting where we ar3e right now.
Dreams don’t need to be something crazy or radical (but it could be). What this is really about is you living a fulfilled life without regrets for never having tried. This means overcoming the safety in seeing our dreams as unachievable. If we simply label our dreams as impossible, we renege on dealing with our real fears.
I’ve become a Chappell Roan cult fan over the last few months (#callmehotnotpretty). On her Instagram, she posted a Facebook post in 2011 saying that she was determined to be on Saturday Night Live. She starred on it yesterday. Such things are possible.
I crossed back to the poem by Marianne Williamson this week, which encapsulates it so beautifully:
Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, ‘Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?’ Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.
― Marianne Williamson, A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of “A Course in Miracles”
I find this poem so powerful because of how confronting it is. One of the biggest things holding people back is the idea that we could actually be something totally amazing. But the idea of expressing greatness would mean coming out of our comfort zone, and entering a new arena. If we’re truly great, we can no longer be the big fish in the small pond.
What I particularly love about this poem is that it also puts the imperative on us to share our gifts with the world. It’s bordering on a moral obligation – it explicitly states that playing small means we are not serving the world. And it also demonstrates that when we become our full authentic selves, it nourishes other people too.
One thing I did randomly this week was an Instagram story with a ‘send me any comments’ annonymised or not (sidenote, if you don’t follow me there, my account is https://www.instagram.com/tahmid.chowdhury/. I actually post a lot more there than LinkedIn)
Two comments I got were the following:
“I appreciate the way you are genuine. You don’t bull***t around”
“I really admire your way of being so free to express yourself. It’s inspiring :)”
It’s both heartwarming to hear how people see me, but it also demonstrates the effect I am having on their lives. This is also intentiaonl. I work on myself and share what I do with the explicit intent to inspire others. On my deathbed, I want to be sure that I’ve done more good in the world than harm.
My experience in being more forthright with who I am is that it tends to shock people at first. When I want to change, it can elicit surprise, and sometimes a negative reaction. But when I hold firm that this is who I am, it actually elicits a shift and often a newfound respect.
Weirdly, relationships often improve rather than get worse the more that I am bold with who I am. Some disappear, but that’s okay too. It gives space for people with a higher energetic resonance that lift me up rather than pull me down.
So my simple message to you this week is this:
Dare to dream. Maybe, just maybe, your incredible, beautiful, crazy life is waiting for you.