Don't just avoid your nightmare!

The title of my blog is "Be YOU:  Live your dream!"
It doesn't say "avoid your nightmare."

Are you someone who is seemingly content just getting by?  As long as nothing horribly bad happens, they consider it all ok.  Maybe that's you?  Or how you've been in the past? 

I think it's a shame to be content with "just ok."  There's more to life than that.  You can achieve your wildest dreams and be blissfully happy!  The key is to go for it!  Go for the dream.  Focus on the dream, not whatever it is you don't want (aka, the nightmare).

Let's say your nightmare is to not have any money, to be in debt, and be alone and miserable.   

Would you consider it a success if you simply avoided that nightmare?  If you had a little money in the bank, little or no debt, but were going to a job you weren't passionate about, or even detested, just to get that money so you could avoid your nightmare? 
Would you be content in a relationship that was just alright?  You don't fight very often, you get along pretty well most of the time, but you're not absolutely crazy about the person?  You could imagine your life just as easily with them as without them?  You're just avoiding your nightmare of being alone?

I know plenty of people who live to just avoid their nightmare.  I'm sure we all have to some extent, at some point in our lives.  But at what point do you say, "Enough's enough, I'm going to go for my dreams now!"  At what point do you reach for more than "just ok" and go after what you really want?  A career you're passionate about, for example?  More money than you could possibly spend?  (Which comes, by the way, when you follow your heart, live in love, and are true to yourself.)  A fun, loving relationship with someone who you respect, admire, and are wildly attracted to? 
These dreams don't have to be just a fantasy.  They can be your reality.  It all starts with your thoughts. 

"Thoughts become things," as Mike Dooley tells us.  Keep the thoughts of what you want forefront in your mind.  Don't send energy or focus on what you don't want.  Each thought you have is an energy you're sending out into the world.  You can send more hate, more discontentment, or more love, peace, and joy.  Your choice!

I am currently living my dream to work for myself and be a writer.  It started with affirmations.  I had a steady job, with a paycheck that was plenty for me, working as a sign language interpreter in a school.  The job was good, but I grew more and more discontent as the days, months, and years went by.  I felt stuck.  Trapped in a job that I knew wasn't my spirit's calling.  The money and insurance sure were nice, though! 

I'm a believer in affirmations.  I've seen them work profoundly in my own life, multiple times!  So I created an affirmation around work.  It went something like this:  "I'm so happy and grateful now that I'm my own boss, I make my own schedule, and I make more than enough money as a successful writer." 

I repeated that affirmation countless times every day.  When I was walking my dogs.  When I was walking into the school building to start the work day.  When I was eating my lunch.  It's not that it was the only thought in my head, but it was one of the most prevalent.  (Also notice how it's present tense.  That is key.) 

In May of 2011 I decided that would be my last day working for someone else.  I submitted my official resignation after the school year ended and officially called myself a "full-time writer."  I had some savings and a half-completed novel.  That was it.  I was living the dream! 

Since that day I have published a two-part novel and a novella (available on Amazon here: http://www.amazon.com/Sarah-Noel/e/B009WNAZOC/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1357127669&sr=1-2-ent).  My next novel is in the final stages.  I hope to have it published by the end of the month.  I also started this blog, as well as commenting on others' blogs frequently.  I'm doing what I love.  I'm following my passion.  I have not regretted one second leaving my former job(s).  This isn't to say I won't ever work a standard "job" again.  In fact, I applied to be seasonal help at a florist's for a two-week period around Valentine's Day.  It sounded fun and I enjoy learning new things.  I'm not opposed to working jobs.  In fact, I have liked all the jobs I've had.  The key, for me, is to always be working for myself.  I need to be in charge of what I do, not answer to someone else.  If it's a job, I'm doing it because I want to be doing it.  I feel drawn to do whatever it is, at that time in my life. 

Follow the energy. 
Follow my heart. 
That's how I've lived my life and I will continue to live my life.  It hasn't failed me once! 

I'd like to encourage each of you to live your dream, don't just avoid your nightmare.  Go for what you want.  If it doesn't work out, at least you'll have tried!  But I believe, have always believed, that if you are really passionate about something, and want it bad enough, and believe you can do it, it will happen. 

Your nightmare doesn't have to be your reality.  Avoiding your nightmare doesn't have to be enough to spend your days.  Go out and get your dream!  Live it, starting today! 

Quotes of the Day:

"People believe what they want to believe.  And this, alone, explains what they have or don't have."  (tut.com)

"Ever notice how those who give their all to just "getting by" usually do?  Yeah.  Then you must wonder, too, why they don't just give their all to rocking the flippin' world?  Costs the same."  (tut.com)

"Be there.  Go there now and never leave.  Imagine that your dreams have already come true.  Live your life from that mindset.  Predicate your behavior on that reality, not the illusions that now surround you.  Filter every thought, question, and answer from there.  Let your focus shift and be born again - because dwelling from, not upon, the space you want to inherit is the fastest way to change absolutely everything."  (tut.com)