"Remember. You're always living the dream"

A guy I know that is in an interestingly tricky situation at a seemingly critical point of his life said something to me that not only shocked me, but it made me think. This guy recently became a homeless couch hopper, living off of a duffel bag or two for several months now. He is dead broke, always hungry, looking for ways to make his future a little brighter, but it seems like many things are stacked against his favor. He hasn’t hit rock bottom, but he is a little lower than most of us hope to ever be. Now that you know a little context, you can understand why what he said is so shocking. As a parting goodbye, he said “Remember. You’re always living the dream.” As he was walking away I wondered how someone in his position and his misfortune could say that he, as well as the rest of us, are living the dream. Always. No matter what happens. As I continued pondering this concept, I realized that the dream is a dream because we don’t have it yet. We are always living the dream as long as we have a goal we are working towards. Living the dream doesn’t consist of having the things you need and want and having a mostly problem free life, living the dream means working towards something and achieving it. If I am homeless and my goal and dream is to be completely financially stable and independent and I achieve that, I am living the dream. If I am already well off, but my dream is to start a successful hotel, that is just as valid as the first one. With this train of thought I decided that having ‘a life goal’ is stupid. All of us ought to endeavour for more than just a single life goal. A life goal of mine is to circumnavigate the globe, but as soon as I achieve that I will have another goal and I have other goals on my way to that one. Being a productive, industrious member of society, bring a smile to someone everyday, better myself morally, all these are things I can strive towards my entire life. If I work towards these goals, I am living the dream. Because when I am circumnavigating the globe, you can bet that I will be at least a little stressed and worried. I probably won’t be thinking the entire time ‘gee, this is really living the dream. This is the greatest thing of my life!’ There will definitely be moments when we can stop and appreciate how good things are, and we should do that often, but life isn’t a movie. You can’t listen to a catchy song as you’re achieving your goal, mostly because the average song length is 3 minutes and 30 seconds. You probably should make a playlist. Or you can film it and make a video montage. I guess then your dream can be like a movie when you watch it, but while you’re living it, live it! For the good and the bad! Living the dream is working towards a dream and enjoying the brief moment of victory when you do achieve it. “Remember. You’re always living the dream.”