The Answer Is To Just Love Yourself

“Well, that’s what we all want isn’t it,” was her dismissive response when I confessed my dreams.

Not even a question but a statement of fact. As if because we all want such a great life we shouldn’t be able to have it.

I had simply stated that I wanted a job/vocation/pursuit that allowed me to work from anywhere in the world. That I was working, plotting and planning to make it a reality. I admitted that I actually had no idea how I was going to do it, but it was my dream nevertheless.

The girl I was speaking to is only 23 years old! So young yet so jaded.

Despite her casting aside my dreams as folly, I still think it is possible. If I didn’t I think I may just die. Dramatic, I know. But that’s just how much following my dreams means to me. And how much it should mean to you.

This is my mantra and challenge to myself: I will not succumb to the cynical, negative thoughts of others. Those people who tell you it isn’t possible and that dreams are childish and futile. Who believe we were born to spend our days chained to our desks, squinting at a computer screen. Getting fat and destroying our eyesight in the process, as we gently slide toward to death. Too hollow inside to muster a protest.

Okay then, how can I make this a reality? The first step is to love and accept myself. I know this is an awful cliché, but it’s a cliché for a reason. It is a tried and tested formula that works.

So accepting myself, embracing my strange. Loving the fact that I won’t just accept the ordinary life. That I wasn’t born to be like everybody else, and that this is okay.

Too much effort and time has already been wasted trying to fit in.

I will learn to accept the looks of pity that others may give me because I’m not following the cookie cutter approach to life. Study and get a job they say to me. My dreams fly higher than that is my response.

I will not succumb, and this is also my challenge to you.

Follow your dreams at whatever cost. Trust that you are doing the right thing, and that the universe will make it happen. Don’t become a victim of regret.

Just love yourself, the rest will come.