While we are chasing our dreams, we can’t forget that there are people around us also chasing theirs. And you know what? You may be working on different projects, but you’re still in the same boat.
Tim Gallen is a friend of mine who is chasing his dream. Here is what he has to say about it. (Thank you, Tim, for writing this up.)
Stay Positive & Enjoy The Read… And The Chase
Garth E. Beyer
Enter Tim:
They say a funny thing happens when you chase a dream.
They say the more real you try to make it, the more you try to birth an idea, make a dream come true, the more doubt gets in your face.
I didn’t NOT believe this, of course. I mean, I’ve been around the InterWebs, have heard through the digital grapevine whispers of such incidents. Times when people – excited, energetic, passionate people – pursued their dream but kept feeling uncertain: What if this doesn’t work? What if I fail? What if I’m not cut out for this?
But reading and hearing about something is completely different from feeling it firsthand.
I know this because I’m experiencing it right now.
For years, my brothers and I have had aspirations to tell stories using video. In other words, we’ve wanted to make movies.
This is a dream we’ve talked about ad nauseum. And for the longest time, that’s all it was: talk. Short bursts of excitable, dreamy-eyed chatter that gave way to the pressing obligations and reality of day-to-day life.
Until last year, when we finally reached a point of enough-is-enough. It was time to make a go of this dream of ours. We planned and plotted, recruited and recorded. It took us longer than we originally hoped and wanted, but we created a promotional video for a spoofy web series called Harbor Shores. It was an idea we’d had for a while and one we thought was perfect for launching our foray into visual storytelling.
I can’t speak for my brothers, but you’d think at this point, I’d be feeling the doubt creep up my spine. Well, honestly, I didn’t.
You see, we used this promo as part of a Kickstarter campaign to raise funds to produce our first season of our show. From the middle of March through the middle of April, my brothers and I – along with some amazing support from friends and family – blasted social media and talked up our project. We managed to raise enough to fund our project.
And, while ecstatic about chasing the dream, a tiny voice called from my subconscious: “Why are you wasting your time?”
Truthfully, I may not have heard it the first few times. But you gotta hand it to forms of resistance – fear, doubt, anxiety, et al. – they’re nothing if not persistent. They gnaw away at you like a dog chewing a bone. They wear you down, tire you out. Persistent.
My brothers and I are knee-deep into our dream: putting together our Kickstarter rewards, securing locations, and filling the final remaining roles in the cast. We begin filming later this month.
And ever-present, I hear that voice whisper inside: “You’re a fake! Why waste your time with this? You’re going to fail!”
In my weaker moments, I wish I could somehow eliminate it completely. But I know all too well how resistance never goes away.
Knowing I will never completely be free of the fear and doubt, I choose to use them as a signpost. When I hear that whisper of doubt, when I sense the prickle of fear climb up my spine, I know I’m on the right track, chasing a dream.
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