What's your dream and what's stopping you?

AwakenedAdele said:
I just watched a fantastic Ted-Talk on YouTube.

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It's really inspiring, I thought why not post it on here - maybe we can help each other out?

:)
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My dream right now, which changes on a yearly basis it seems, is to take a year off to ride as many lines and see as much of the country as possible. No plan other than to enjoy the places I like, and get moving when I’m ready.
A few things are holding me back and they are health related, and family and financial obligations.
I take a few medications for asthma, and the old brain which are pretty expensive without HI. Financially, I have a fairly significant amount of debt from two years of college and a car payment. My mom also can’t afford to live without me helping her out despite my poor income.

I know I could purchase medication overseas for cheap, sell my car, and save as much as possible to cover my debt and help my mother out if I decide to indefinitely hit the road or rails down the line, but I’m not there yet.

So I am settling with little trips for now and saving in hopes that I can square everything away in the near future.

Maybe I am only making excuses out of fear for the unknown and the uncertainty of coming back with everything untied...who knows.
 
Short said:
My dream right now, which changes on a yearly basis it seems, is to take a year off to ride as many lines and see as much of the country as possible. No plan other than to enjoy the places I like, and get moving when I’m ready.
A few things are holding me back and they are health related, and family and financial obligations.
I take a few medications for asthma, and the old brain which are pretty expensive without HI. Financially, I have a fairly significant amount of debt from two years of college and a car payment. My mom also can’t afford to live without me helping her out despite my poor income.

I know I could purchase medication overseas for cheap, sell my car, and save as much as possible to cover my debt and help my mother out if I decide to indefinitely hit the road or rails down the line, but I’m not there yet.

So I am settling with little trips for now and saving in hopes that I can square everything away in the near future.

Maybe I am only making excuses out of fear for the unknown and the uncertainty of coming back with everything untied...who knows.
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True that, man. Except the health issues (yet)....

Great response. I want to ride every damn line in the country before I keel over.
 
I am turning 40 next month and physically feel like I have just one more serious adventure left. By serious, I mean something that is both new and that I am ill-prepared for...

StP got me inspired to live on a boat. Why? Never done it. I don't know anything about boats really, but I am a good swimmer. According to some estimates, I need about $4k more in savings until my first night sleeping at sea. I don't need to start with that much, but that's what I've calcualted it will take. Probably the biggest obstacle is being pretty comfortable with my p/t job and social life, so I don't have an urgency to save this money.

The second obstacle I've identified is that my approach will heavily rely on other people. Showing up to buy a boat is one thing, but there's a whole liveaboard culture that I am foreign to. Not only the lifestyle, but the logistics are new too. Pretty daunting to give myself over to strangers.

I don't know if I will actually do this thing, like so many things. I spent several years researching van-dwelling before I actually lived in the metal box on wheels.... but once I had to take the plunge I was prepared as I could have been. I don't know that it was that great. Everything is better if you have money. Maybe if I profess the joys of the sea to all my friends enough one of them will eventually give me a lead on a boat. I have some time to put together the savings, and once I do I can either get the boat or take some time to myself. I think you'll find a lot of folks on here are more likely to shove off without a plan, but that's not me. "Making plans" is sort of like "being busy" because that you can run that con on yourself forever.
 
Mostly obligations I've got that are tying me down. I'm a year or two out from finishing my degree, so if I bail now I'll be wasting a lot of time and money I've already sunk into it.

Furthermore, my family do not understand this drive for adventure at all, and I know for a fact that even weekend trips to other cities scare the everloving hell out of them- they freaked when they found out I spent a weekend traveling with strangers to a festival. I live in a different city from them, so I could probably travel for a month, maybe two before they'd notice- but if they ever found out I'd end up estranged, and they've always been good to me- plus on a more selfish note, I'm still not entirely financially self reliant yet, though I'm working on it.

So I gotta hold on and keep grinding that 9-5 for a year or two longer. Gotta establish myself as financially independent, gotta finish that degree, and gotta figure out how to compartmentalize my life to keep my family from ever learning about it- because if I have to choose between my family or my dreams, there's only one right decision, and it would tie me down for good.


I can't and won't just burn all my bridges and never look back, because I know I won't want to ride forever, and I want to lay the foundations for a quiet life when I someday settle down- so that means I gotta work now, and hope that effort pays off someday.

Until then, I guess I'll keep dreaming.
 
Living it, the journey is the dream

Id like to travel the astral planes after I die, that would be cool if its not an illusion and everything doesnt just dissapear. Might call that a dream, the obstacle being reality, or needing to meditate more
 
I want to be able to do whatever on a whim like go camping or go to a concert again. What's stopping me is my mental health has taken a pretty gnarly downward turn in the last 5 years. Soon as I get my car to the end of the driveway I start having heart palpitations and feel like I'm going to pass out. I got everything else worked out though, I can do crowds and all that shit again, just having issues with moving around without my knees buckling.
 
My ultimate dream has always been to eventually settle down and own land where I can build a mini ramp and grow my own food.
My current dream is to hit the road again, but currently have a partner who really needs me here, plus my dog is getting too old and has too many health problems to get back out there.
 
Frownsy said:
My ultimate dream has always been to eventually settle down and own land where I can build a mini ramp and grow my own food.
My current dream is to hit the road again, but currently have a partner who really needs me here, plus my dog is getting too old and has too many health problems to get back out there.
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I too want to settle down after travelling more and live off the land!
 
In my view, a dream is a fantasy. What will I create for myself as opposed to what have I created for myself - that's where my power lies. A dream is something that exists outside of me and I have almost no creative power outside of myself (externally). In my view, that is.
 
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