11 Reasons You Probably Shouldn’t Reach For Your Dreams

1. It’s too hard

How are you supposed to know where to start? Especially when you’re not 100% sure of what your dream life actually entails. The image is a bit blurry. And it changes often. Besides, the things you dream about one day having, being or doing are not for now. Surely. They’re for one day. That’s what dreams are really for, aren’t they? Trying to live your dream life in the present would be madness.

And frankly, you don’t need the complications.

2. You might look like an idiot

What if you set out to achieve your dreams and you fail?

What if you have to step out of your comfort zone? Do things you’d never normally dare to; talk to people you’d normally ignore out of superiority or intimidation. What if you set out to remodel yourself or your life and you just end up falling on your feet? Even if that failure teaches you something or puts you a step ahead of where you started, the possibility for embarrassment or even plain old attention along the way just isn’t worth it.

3. What if you actually achieve your dream and then find out it’s not really that great?

You might not look like an idiot, but boy will you feel like one if you invest your time and energy chasing a dream only to find out it’s not really that important.

Of course finding out what you don’t want can help you get closer to unveiling what you do truly want, but it seems like a bit of a round-a-bout way to reach your dreams. Not really worth it, is it?

4. You might have to put other stuff on hold

Who seriously has time for dream building these days? It’s all very well for students, singles, those with money, those with time, those who are natural go-getters. It’s all very well for anyone else, really, but you. You have stuff to do. Important stuff. Stuff that is urgent, that demands your time and attention NOW. Stuff you’re used to responding to. It wouldn’t do to try and put your STUFF on hold. Who knows what sort of disarray might ensue.

5. You’re too busy

All that stuff takes up a lot of time.

Honestly, most people have no idea. NO idea.

There was a time when you thought working so hard and staying on top of all that stuff would mean you’d one day be able to follow your dreams. Your passions. The things you’ve long fantasised about and almost as long nearly forgotten about. Now you know better. You’re all grown up and you know that simply isn’t how things work. You know that the mature thing is to resign youself to being busy. Consumed. And that it’s only going to get worse.

6. It’s safer not to try

There’s a lot of risks in following your dreams! Didn’t you know?

It could require you to act differently, speak differently, even to think differently. It would be much safer – and simpler – to stick with your routine the way it is now. Sure, you might not necessarily love things the way they are now, but you know what to expect. That’s important. Unexpected things would only serve to disrupt you from all that stuff you’re doing.

7. You’re too scared

You’re scared to try.

You’re scared not to try as well, of course, but given the relative safety of sticking with what you know it’s more scary to try than not to try. You’re scared of failure of course, but you might just be a little scared of success as well. Of what it might mean, of what it might not after all mean. Of what it could require of you. Of who you might be forced to be. Everyone knows that living in fear is not smart or healthy, so it’s best not to put yourself out there into the scary unknown.

8. It might change the way people think of you

People who respect you now, for being organized, punctual, efficient, might no longer respect you.

People who count on you to be the good citizen might be offended if you become less predictable. If, by your own actions, you force them to question their lives. People might resent you. They might think you’re stuck up, too big for your own boots. Of course they could also be inspired by you, excited for you, even willing to help you. But that’s a risk. Risks are scary. And they take your attention away from the stuff.

Not good.

9. You could be forced to acknowledge that your happiness lies in nobody’s hands but your own

Now THAT is definitely a risk you’re not willing to take, are you?

With responsibility comes great power, as the saying goes. Power requires action. Forcefulness. Determination. And self-assuredness. All things you just don’t know if you’re really capable of. Best to keep your head down and your butt up as you grind away at being busy and consumed by stuff. Best not to look side to side or too far ahead.

10. What is it really going to cost you?

Some fanciful people out there might say ‘what is it going to cost you if you don’t try?’. But you know better, Because whatever the cost of actually trying may be, you know you don’t really want to pay the price. The safety of your current routine, the assuredness of how you’re perceived by others, the familiarity of the way your daily life plays out, the security that comes from having a pretty good idea of how life is going to pan out? Hey, even if all of that adds up to a somewhat tiring or even grim picture, you know that you know how to put one foot in front of the other and keep moving forward. Whether or not you’re moving forward to something amazing is by the by. You’re just not willing to pay the price of trying for something else.

11. You’re going to fail anyway

Face it.

99% of people trying to achieve anything fail in one way or the other. Even if they first succeed, and even if they end up somewhere better than where they hoped to be. It’s still a failure.

I mean think about it – how many people trying to get into amazing shape ever are truly satisfied? How many people achieve the wealth they dream of? The relationship? The lifestyle? The anything? Why bother trying when the odds are stacked so firmly against you? We haven’t even talked about how you’re not the right age. How you’ve left it too late. How you’re the wrong gender/colour/personality. How you tried once already and it didn’t work. And all of the other perfectly valid stuff.

I wouldn’t bet on you.

And I bet you won’t bother truly betting on yourself, will you? Not when there’s all that stuff to do.

Not when life just doesn’t work out that way; not for most people.

And you are most people, after all.

Aren’t you?

\