You want to follow your dreams? Are you mad? If you are, it is a good thing.

Hey, it’s not a fair world. Not everyone gets an opportunity to follow their dreams. It is damn hard, and I suggest you don’t do it. Unless, a few conditions are met. I know, you must be saying, ‘dude, this is a happiness blog, you say, and now you are telling me not follow my dreams! What kind of a mad guy you must be.’

This is going to be an awkward piece. I know, your dreams are important to you and you want to follow your dreams. But, I want to warn you- it comes at a huge price.

The question is- are you willing to pay the price?

I am going to be really harsh, and realistic in this piece. I want to warn you against all that you may face, if you start a journey towards your dreams. You may want to rethink before you decide to take the plunge.

Here we go- 10 reasons why you must not follow your dreams

1. Following your dreams COULD BE excruciating

Now, here is the deal. Everyone comes from a different place and situation in life. The reason I have written it could be excruciating, and not it is excruciating is because it depends on who you are, and what your journey looks like. It also depends on how much emotional and financial support you have, from your own savings, your family and friends.

If you are alone in your journey, with nobody really supporting you financially and emotionally, especially emotionally- you may be in for pain that you have never imagined was possible. If there is nobody who believes in your dreams, especially in your family, you could face situations where you badly need support, and you are alone.

Hey, are you mad enough to drink in the pain?

2.  It is an extremely lonely journey

Have you ever travelled solo in your life? Are you used to spending time by yourself, are you even comfortable? If no, I suggest you drop the idea of following your dreams.

Following your dreams and ambitions is a lonely journey. Loneliness is wanting company and not having it. On the other hand, solitude is voluntary loneliness. To be able to follow your dreams takes a lot of introspection and that introspection mostly happens by yourself.

If you are not comfortable to spend time with yourself, and you can’t handle loneliness, it is quite tough to follow your dreams. I don’t think anybody who has followed their dreams has not gone through loneliness, especially in the beginning of their journey, till they achieve some conspicuous success, which attracts people towards them.

Are you mad enough to face the loneliness of the journey of following your dreams?

3. Most people give up on their dreams when they hit the lows

There is good reason why most people do not even pursue their dreams. Even among the ones who start on the journey of their dreams, many of these give up, just because it is difficult to survive and keep going when the chips start falling.

Only those who have the capacity of bear pain-that comes through unforeseen situations and mistakes that they are bound to make on the way, survive,

Are you mad enough to sustain the lows?

4. Rejection is a given on the journey of your dreams

Rejection is a part of the journey of following your dreams. Rejections hurts emotionally. It is not easy. The more you get rejected, the more difficult it would be rise up again and start again on your journey. It is hard. Some of the most successful people in the world have faced a lot of rejection on their way including famous authors like J. K. Rowling, who faced rejections before the Harry Potter series was finally published. Nelson Mandela faced so much in his decade’s long journey to rid South Africa of Apartheid.

Are you mad enough to face the rejection?

5. It may take longer than you expect

They say that dreams do not have deadlines but goals do. We believe that we may take a certain time, like 2-3 years to achieve a goal, and sometimes reality strikes with a sledgehammer and the plans are laid to rest. The goalpost moves forward and we are forced to review if we would still continue. At this point, most people quit because they had a goal, but not a dream, to which they are perennially committed. They just cannot give up till the dream is fulfilled.

Are you mad to stick through till you make it?

6. You would not be comfortable while you follow your dreams

One of the characteristics of people who achieve their dreams is that they don’t seek comfort. They seek it, but they are willing to give it up for their dreams. That means working on a weekend, giving up on a new car in the short run, and other material comforts. It is not easy to do this however, since majority of the people value comfort over long term fulfilment. Only those who are mad about their dreams embrace the discomfort.

Are you mad enough to be uncomfortable?

7. You would still need to pay the bills

Life is a continuum. It doesn’t care if you have quit your job to follow your dreams- you would still need a home, food, fuel in your car, electricity, internet and other things, which need to be paid for. Either you have a family that supports you, or you would need a sum to take care of your expenses while you build your start-up, or a writing or a comedy career, whatever your dream is. Sometimes, you may need more than you plan for the contingencies and sometimes, you may need less. But, you would need this fund that you would have to replenish while working on your dreams.

Are you mad enough to do this?

8. You need limitless self-belief to follow your dreams

 People who pursue their dreams believe in their dreams and their ability to pursue them. Sometimes, they are the only people who believe in their dreams because the world doesn’t really care. Sometimes, their own family and loved ones don’t believe in their dreams, but they find the strength somehow to believe in what they are trying to achieve, in spite of evidence otherwise.

Are you mad enough to have this level of self-belief?

9. The older you are, the more difficult it is to chase your dreams

It makes sense to pursue your dreams in your 20’s or even start earlier. The older you are, the more difficult it is to take risks. Since you may also have a family at this stage that you are responsible for, it makes pursuing your dreams even more hard, than it is already. Having said that, a lot of people have achieved mad success and happiness in their 40’s and even beyond. However, it is not easy for everyone. It takes giving up on a lot of things society expects you to have by 40- like a stable job, kids, family, and a home for which you are paying EMI’s.

Are you mad enough to still follow your dreams?

10. You would need to stop caring about what anybody thinks of you

If you have come reading so far, you seem to be still interested in the idea of following your dreams. You are not happy with your current life and you want to follow your dreams. You think you are mad enough to take the pain, bear the lows, and handle the failure.

However, there is more. Since we live in a dead society where miserable people support each other to become even more miserable, you would need to absolutely stop caring what anybody thinks of you. If you care about what others think of you, you may never be able to start following your dreams, because most people don’t, anyway.

Are you mad enough to stand your ground when everyone around you is criticizing you?

11. You would need to pay the price to follow your dreams

Dreams don’t come easy. They are an output of risk-taking, persistence and all of the things we have said here. Most people do not embark on the journey of following their dreams because they are simply not willing to pay the price.

That is fine. There is nothing wrong with that. However, there are people around you who have taken the risk, and they are willing to pay the emotional and arduous price. They are willing to live life on their own terms, whatever it takes. Only those would be able to go after their dreams.

“If people knew how hard I worked to get my mastery, it wouldn’t seem so wonderful at all- Michelangelo”

Are you mad enough to be willing to pay the price?

12. You may need to be ready to pay the ultimate cost

I think if I were to put down one factor that differentiates people who follow their dreams and achieve them, and those who don’t, this is it. People who follow their dreams with the attitude that they would have nothing less, they achieve it. They don’t have a plan B. So, some of them may die in the process.

This is called the point of no return. “In 1519 AD, during the Spanish conquest of Mexico. Hernán Cortés, the Spanish commander, scuttled his ships, so that his men would have to conquer or die.”

You see, in the world that we live in now, they don’t kill you if you fail on the road to your dreams. But, this is the ultimate test.

Are you mad enough to want to achieve your dreams or die?

All right, so what are we saying here? Should you follow your dreams or not?

Although this piece is counterintuitive, to put it succinctly, your dreams are your life. People say it is hard to follow your dreams. Yes, I agree that it is hard to follow your dreams.

However, think about the alternative- that you don’t follow your dreams. Then you live a life when you know that you killed your dreams, and accepted whatever your family or the society thought was right for you. Now, you live a life where you feel you could have lived a different life altogether. You dream every day of the life that may have been and that you didn’t have the courage to pursue.

Please, follow your dreams

So, please follow your dreams. Please encourage and support others to follow their dreams. We are already living in a dead society with people who have killed their dreams and their happiness.

Yes, it is hard and it is going to be hard, but please be mad enough to figure out a way to follow your dreams, so that others are inspired to follow your lead, and try to follow their dreams themselves.

Are you mad enough to do the things we have said here- are you willing to take the pain, risk your life, persist till you achieve your dreams, not be comfortable, be willing to put in the time, take rejections and stay on course to achieve your dreams?

Please, would you be mad enough? The world may be looking at you to provide them with the inspiration that they so desperately need? Most people won’t do it. They aren’t mad enough.

Would you be mad enough to follow your dreams?

Thank you for reading.

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The purpose of this blog to help you find your happiness. Please read the other posts on the blog, and follow so that you get updates when new posts are published. Please share any posts you like with your friends so that they can also find their happiness. If you have any feedback for me, please leave it in the comments and I would be happy to work on it. If you would like to support my writing and this blog, you may please send a donation through PayPal here.

I appreciate the time you spent in reading the blog and wish you happiness.

Love,

Amarvani