PURSUE YOUR DREAMS
In the early days of writing The Celestine Prophecy, I had many people telling me the project was impractical, even foolish. They declared that I was wasting my time when I should be looking for something more realistic. I agreed to some extent, of course. Writing a novel is always a gamble. But all the evidence in my personal life was pointing me to pursue my passions.
Previously, I had garnered some success in writing for a newspaper. And early in school, I had won back-to-back county essay contests with little effort. Moreover, the ideas I wanted to write about — consciousness, intuition, and synchronicity — had proved themselves to be effective in a therapeutic setting, in real life, with real people.
Did I know, for a fact, my novel would be successful? Not really, but I did have a great urge to pursue it. And you can imagine how thankful I am that I did! My advice is… always give your dream a shot. And if it proves difficult, always be open to letting your idea evolve a little. Maybe it wants to move into something else it was destined to be all along.
Here are some things to think about as you tinker with your “true calling” and pursue your dreams.
What Are You really Good At?
This is a tough question because it is a challenge to be completely objective and unbiased. Nevertheless, do a self-analysis of your life. Ask some friends what their observations are concerning your talents. Think about your achievements to date. Are you good at details, or are you an abstract thinker? Do you enjoy working inside, or is the wild, out-yonder your thing? Are you a people person or a loner? All these realities matter and must be considered.
Try to be realistic about your situation. Yes, depending on where you are in life, you may have to work harder and for a longer period to get to where you want to be. But nothing that is great is obtained easily or made readily available to us, right? Just try to make sure your basic nature fits with the dream you have in mind.
