Mind the Gap

I’ve been cranky of late. Little things bug the shit out of me. Minor annoyances set me off into red-blur rages. And it’s all because of my dreams.

Don’t get me wrong, dreams are fucking awesome. Without our dreams, we’re all just greasy cogs in the big ol’ machine, grinding our way through the day. Dreams are what help us know what we should be doing, they’re the fuel in our jet packs.

But that gap between dreams and reality can be a real bitch. When you’re unable to pursue your true calling, everything else seems like an Atlas-level burden strapped to your back with rusty barbed wire. I want to wake up every morning and work on finishing Half-Made Girls or starting its sequel, but there are a zillion other shitty things determined to eat up my every waking second.

Which is really goddamned irritating.

That dream/reality gap will drive you batshit if you see it as a bottomless chasm separating you from your goal. I’ve met folks who stared into that abyss, decided they would never be able to get across it, and figured the best way to preserve their sanity was to quit dreaming. They’re happier for it, even if they sometimes look back a little wistfully and wonder what might have been.

If you can do that, if you can turn your back on your dream and get on with the business of living the life you’ve found for yourself, then you probably should. You’ll be safer, happier, and probably a shit-ton more satisfied with yourself than if you kept on chasing a dream that you might never catch.

But if you can’t let that dream go, don’t let the gap eat your soul. It’s an obstacle, but it won’t keep you from reaching your dream unless you let it.

If you’ve only got five minutes each day to work on the next step toward your goal, then use those five minutes.  Even a tiny step forward is still a step across the dream/reality gap, and that’s how you’ll get across it.