Every woman’s life is the sum of all her choices, and Revlon India is here to support that. Choices by Revlon is a platform that will allow every woman to express her opinions and make her choices freely. This month, Revlon talks about Hopes & Dreams and believes that each woman should dream at whatever scale she desires, then pursue to accomplish them.
Not a Gypsy but captures the feeling!
Circa 1989.
She was driving a white open top Gypsy. The “cool” car of the moment in India.
Beautiful scenic road, deserted for miles.
The latest music blasting on the stereo.
Banana clip in her hair. Stacks of silver bracelets on her wrists. Silver hoops in her ears.
Trendy sunglasses perched on her nose.
Expansive terrain.
Not a care in the world. Just her, and 4 of her best friends.
Feeling utterly confident, inexplicably ecstatic. Adrenalin coursing through her veins.
Every cell in her body buzzing with ALIVENESS!
She was soaring. On top of the world.
Tossing her head back, laughing with unbridled happiness at something someone said from the back seat.
Driving on and on .. endless blue skies, sun streaming on her face..
And then, she woke up.
Her heart racing, her pulse skipping.
She wasn’t even of legal driving age and this was her dream.
Night after night, week after week. For an entire year.
As she grew up and life sometimes twisted her around, she often recalled that dream.
Feeling wistful, wondering why that was such an integral part of her memories.
After all.. what did it MEAN?
Then one day she had an epiphany.
She knew her dream was a metaphor for her true hopes + desires in life.
Freedom. To be accepted for who she was. To find her ‘tribe’ of equally crazy people, not just to fit in. To feel powerful and confident. Self expressed. To have fun + adventures galore!
The Gypsy? A vehicle to express herself.
The road? Life’s journey. The friends?
Her desire for connection.
The Aliveness? A byproduct of purpose and meaning.
We all have dreams, okay. Maybe you want to win the lotto. Lose weight. Be healthy. Quit your job. Be self employed, a writer, coach. Work at Zappos or Google. Buy a house at the beach, a holiday home in Greece, a fancy car, make 6 figures a year.
Maybe you just want to feel ENOUGH AS YOU ARE.
To believe in yourself. That you matter.
Maybe you want to change the world through social entrepreneurship. Maybe you just want to walk down the street and feel safe. Live in a world free of hate, racism, terrorism. Maybe you want to eradicate poverty and sexual slavery.
Maybe you want to see your child be happy and successful, your parents well looked after in their old age.
Have an amazing relationship. Great friends. Travel. Enough money to never worry about the future.
Maybe you want to challenge yourself and achieve the seemingly impossible.
Maybe you just want one more day, hour, minute with the loved one you lost.
Dreams are a-plenty.
Some will come true, some will not.
Regardless, without a dream, without hope, life is pretty much a humdrum existence.
Meaningless, even.
What is life if not a dream? To create, experience, share, learn, transform?
All your achievements, your experiences, are born of a desire. One that goes way beyond anything material.
A desire to .. FEEL. Happy, successful, alive, proud, brave, accomplished, powerful, free, satisfied, playful, open, strong, confident, relaxed etc etc.
Figure out what your true desire is, and you will find ways to make your dreams come true.
Conventionally or unconventionally.
No matter what anyone says.
My dreams were to be an author, teacher, mother. To have many adventures, have fun, travel, explore!
And my true desires behind that? To share. Care. Feel fulfilled. Needed. Useful. To nurture. Be free. Live up to my potential. Express myself. Love. Be loved.
When I am aware of what’s behind my dream, then even though it feels sucky when my dreams don’t come true how I envisioned them, often they are way better and more amazing that I could have imagined.
SO this is how (and when) my dreams came true:
When I realised that freedom wasn’t about driving a car on the highway, it was living my life MY way!
As for the specifics?
I am teaching – using my life and experiences as an example.
I am writing – on this blog, in my journal, for causes I believe in.
I am a mother – to my inner child, to the dreams I am birthing.
Sure, I have unrealised dreams too.
I want YLYW to be the top empowerment + happiness site in the world, travel to 2 new countries every year, have a baby, live in my dream home, and much more.
It’s good to have these dreams.
But I can’t be attached to them.
Know why?
Because no matter how many plans I make, dreams that come true, miracles that happen, I have no idea what’s truly possible in my limited imagination. And, none of that will bring happiness of the long lasting kind.
Twofold realisation.
1) Happiness will always come from within, no matter the circumstances.
2) Dreams have a funny way of shapeshifting. One comes true, and we move right onto another!
Which is totally fine.
As long as you appreciate and celebrate life whether dreams come true or not, as long as you know that you get to choose the experiences you want, the dreams you want to make happen, the person you want to be, the life you want to live.
Liked this post? Please share it + let me know one of your dreams in the comments below. Cheers!
Hi! I’m Tia. Multi-passionate Sparklepants, Life Lover, Curator of Awesome. I run this website featuring kickass inspiration to help you sparkle through life, no matter what! Click here to ignite your Inner Sparkle — that shimmery part of your spirit that says YES to courage + connection, and NO WAY to ‘shoulds’ + restrictions.
What an inspiring message and I couldn’t agree more that we shouldn’t limit our dreams as once we reach one we are often onward toward another. I believe it keeps up motivated. = ) Very inspiring Tia. Glad we are tribemates and so looking forward to what 2015 has to come in our futures. Keep inspiring. You are amazing.
Irish
Whoa girl, long time no see here! Yeah, you’re so right that dreams motivate us and hope helps us hang in there. Have a gobsmackingly awesome 2015 and thanks for bringing sunshine on a rainy day (kittens and puppies outside!). ~ xo, T.