The Question of Settling

744 Days to Complete 101 Dreams Come True

From the Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

The old man pointed to a baker standing in his shop window. "When he was a child, that man wanted to travel, too. But he decided first to buy his bakery and put some money aside. When he's an old man, he's going to spend a month in Africa. He never realized that people are capable, at any time in their lives, of doing what they dream of."

According to Webster's dictionary the word 'settle' means: to accept despite complete satisfaction. I hate to say this, but I believe this describes most people's lives. They begin with big dreams and somehow, like the baker in the story of the Alchemist, they get stuck in a rut complaining about what they hate and dreaming of things changing without being willing to do the work.

The more I forge forward on this journey of settling for nothing less than magnificence in my life, the more I see and hear how people settle. I didn't notice before. In fact, many times I was jealous of others lives that seemed more stable. I'm not saying that everyone is settling. You don't have to want to go after 101 dreams in order to be happy. But too many people tell me about their unhappiness and make excuses for why they can't change something.

There's always a way. At any moment you can change your life and go after your dreams. It might not be easy. No one ever said this journey of mine is all peaches and cream. Though I must say it's much easier than what I thought it was going to be. I spent five years afraid and all I had to do was step out of my fear. I was terrified to take that first step. The months after seemed the most painful of my life - yet when I look back I don't see the hurt but the strength that came from the pain and how much I grew.

At any time, your dreams are just a step away. They may take work, risk, a complete change, but they're possible. I'm living proof of that, and I'm no different than you.

Getting Rid of the Non Essentials

773 Days to Complete 101 Dreams Come True

I've been home a little over a week and I'm sorry to say I've returned to my American style of living. In Europe, I never turned on a television. A few nights I watched movies, but for the most part when I took down time it was spent devouring delicious books or going for walks. Since I've been home I've found that hours have been lost catching up on Grey's Anatomy or Private Practice. Last night, instead of making a delicious dinner and enjoying it with a glass of wine out on my patio, I made a quick burrito and sat down in front of my computer perusing the internet with no goal in mind.

How did this happen? How has this little box of a computer sucked me into its realm of entertainment? At one point, I watched five episodes of Parenthood. I tell myself that I'm tired from my trip or that I'm overwhelmed with the paperwork from the break-in. I excuse my behavior with the idea that after three months of intensity I deserve to go brain-dead for a time. The truth is, I'm not happy when I'm sitting in front of the computer letting it take over my mind. It feels wrong and a part of me fights, but still I give in.

I realized while I was traveling how wonderful it was to relinquish the need to be on the computer. I had an hour at most every few days. I had to be efficient: I updated the blog and facebook, checked my email and responded, downloaded my finances, and even booked parts of my trip. When I had the internet available for twenty-four hours something happened. I found myself downloading movies, talking on skype and being drawn into the cyber-world. There were moments that I stared at the screen thinking that there must be more for me to do while I had internet. I wasted time that should've been spent enjoying a glass of wine or going outside.

When I received the compensation from the insurance company for my break-in, I immediately began shopping on the internet to replace my items. After three hours of research, my brain was overloaded with pricing, product information, and shipping costs. Then I did something extraordinary, I went to the store. In less than an hour, a wonderful salesman helped me to buy all the products for my office and even brought down the prices so that newer, better products would fit into my budget. The sad part was that I kept wondering if I was paying too much since it wasn't on the internet.

Today, I realized how bad our world's addiction to technology has become. As I was telling my friend how I've lost the person I became on my trip, he was scrolling on his smartphone and only half listening to what I said.

This journey to pursue my dreams is about living life to the fullest. It's about tasting all that this world has to offer. I've realized that for me, the computer is like eating corn syrup and high fructose, the more I have the more I can't stop.

I know the internet is a wonderful thing. I can book trips, connect with people around the globe, inspire people to follow their dreams, and so much more. But it has to have it's place. For me, that means limiting myself to what needs to get done and then placing it away and going out and really living.