I have a friend that I adore, a good person who is fun to be around and know. He is also, sadly, a dreamer. He has ideas of making great art, or of creating a million-dollar invention… and I know that he will never make these dreams come true.
It’s not that he couldn’t do it, it’s just that he WON’T do it… because talk is cheap. Doing, well… that’s hard. And he will never do the hard work necessary to make those dreams a reality, because, well… I know him. He just won’t.
I’m not just casting stones here. I see the same aspirations and ideas in myself, and I know that following up on some of my own dreams would take a commitment that I just cannot take… a commitment that would take me out of my comfort zone, that would impact my family adversely… and one that would, in all probability, still fail.
So I don’t do it. I have a level of comfort in my life and I am aware that the years have added some degree of weight to my life, and there is also entropy at play. My reach exceeds my grasp, and I know it.
As I occasionally note in conversation with friends, energy is neither gained nor lost, but merely transferred. We only have so much of ourselves to go around. At some point you have to focus your efforts, and I am at the point in my life where I have to prioritize more and more, and give up some dreams to serve the realities of the now and the everyday. It’s tough, but it’s necessary.
So, there is no judgement here. I appreciate that my friends still have their passions and dreams, and don’t have the heart to be blunt with them and let them know that they have to act to make these dreams happen… they have to practice and plan and sweat and bleed and fail and then get up and do it allover again.
One of those aspirations I have is screenwriting. I have always loved the art and craft of screenwriting and I am reading a great book called Tales from the Script, that features extensive interviews with some of the best and brightest screenwriters in the industry, talking about their experiences.
If you want to poor ice-cold water over an aspiring screenwriter, this book will do it. You’ll hear some incredibly passionate people talk about the hard work, the rejection, the occasional glimmer of hope, and how the screenwriter is at the bottom of the totem pole in Hollywood… well, maybe above craft services, but that’s about it.
The key to any success that these writers receive, and I dare say that anyone in the world receives, is passion. The passion to work after rejection, to keep going after you fail. The people who make it keep trying, practicing and honing their skills along the way. I don’t think I have the energy to dedicate to such an endeavor. I’m aspirational about it, but I’m just not passionate about it. I’m not driven to tell stories.
And that’s fine… if a little disappointing.
I started writing about a friend I has who is a dreamer. I’ll finish by detailing some information about two other friends of mine who are doers. They are currently on route to LA to make a break at working in the entertainment industry. My initial thoughts around this move was that they were crazy, that it was a million-to-one shot, that they had a good life they were walking away from.
Then I realized that they were doing it. They were taking a giant leap of faith and risk and were ready and willing to put in the effort to make a go at it. They were going for it.
I have and will wish them the best of luck, as they are doing what they are passionate about and going to go make it happen, if they can. Good.
In many ways, I am doing the same thing. I’m about to have a big lifestyle change myself, transporting myself and my family into a whole new part of the world. It’s a leap of faith, and has some risk.
But I’m tired of dreaming about doing things – I’m ready to do them.
Wish me luck.