Your reality may be someone else’s dream

Did you ever hear the quotes about realizing that what you have or are doing today is what you wished for years ago. OR don’t take for granted what you have because it is what someone else is wishing for.

I had this very reminder this week at work.

In the middle of the night, while the patients were sleeping, a young travel nurse and I were getting acquainted. They asked me about my family and what I did for fun, trips I’ve taken; where we live, etc. They told me that I was living the dream. I just laughed and agreed, because quite often we nurses tell each other we are “living the dream” when asked how we are doing.

They came back to talk to me again later in the shift and said “I really mean it, you are living the dream. You live in a gorgeous spot, your family is good, you have all the things, you go on amazing trips. How do I get that?”

I told them “Time, time is how you get it.” Because I am old enough to be their mother, I just figure if they give it time most things will come to them. But it got me to thinking.

I am a wisher and a dreamer but I know that hard work and not luck have gotten my husband and me where we are today. Prayer and gratitude are not the same thing as wishing. We have many blessings that have nothing to do with acquiring things. We have people in our lives, we have love, we travel, and we have a home that we have worked hard on fixing up. We have opportunities that we didn’t years ago and we have less hustle and worry. That’s just how it goes if you keep your nose to the grind stone. You see results and you begin to live inside of your dreams.

Sometimes it takes an outsider to point out the fact that you are “living the dream.” And sometimes you come to that conclusion on your own. However you arrive there, being grateful is the key to keeping the dream alive with eyes wide open, dreaming while wide awake.

I am grateful every day for life and the people and things in it. I am also still wanting to go, do and see so many other things. This wanderlust and sense of adventure can keep me looking ahead. I don’t want to acquire things, I want to acquire memories and moments. But what about this moment? Does today lose its shine if I’m always looking at the next thing?

I believe that it can. It’s a two-sided coin. We can focus so hard on today that we get stuck in it, we only see how hard it is and how we are never going to move ahead, reach that goal or dream; OR we can get stuck on today because it is comfortable. It’s good enough, it is, after all, what we were dreaming about years ago. We have gotten this far, no need to continue forward.

"Living the dream” can be a bit of all of the above. It can be working hard, achieving a goal, enjoying and being grateful for the moment, and looking ahead, keeping the momentum and capturing all of the blessings along the way. What matters is what you think of your dream and your life. It doesn’t matter whether anyone else believes you are “living the dream.” After all, no two people have the exact dream.

So while you are wishing on those dandelion puffs, know that some of them will land in reality and some will float on higher and higher and never land. Keep blowing. Keep dreaming, and keep being grateful.

Some day these baby nurses will be as old as I am today and they will look back, look around, and look forward and know that they did it, are doing it, and will do it. It’s a journey. Enjoy the ride!