Living the dream.....?

There is something highly attractive about a man who knows what he wants from life and going after exactly that. I know this can be tough and finding your way can be hard but stepping out and finding your life's purpose by trying different things is also a great way to keep progressing and moving forwards. Being passive and waiting for the writing to appear on the wall is probably not the type of divine intervention that will shed light on what to do with the time and skills that you have been blessed with.

When I met Billy* we got on okay and had a great conversation and I was feeling hopeful. We met at TGI Fridays and had dinner, of course it was a Friday night, and overall the night was going really well. We got on nicely, had a few things in common and discussed our travel plans. 

Billy shared with me his life long dream. It felt like a very intimate moment as Billy started pouring out his heart, explaining to me his love of country music, although he persists in a job he isn't passionate about. Billy, it seems, was actually a talented musician and had been paid to sing for a number of famous artists, so famous I can't actually recall any of their names, but if I could, be assured, you would be very impressed.

VERY IMPRESSED.

Billy's dream was to follow his love of country music to its origins in Nashville Tennessee. Sounds fair to me.

I asked him when he was going to make this epic and life changing trip and he looked at me blankly. I repeated my question. Billy replied, "I can't go." What?! 

My mind began to wonder about all of the reasons why this could be.... perhaps he needed a passport, or had a sick family member he needed to attend to (how kind he must be) or no, perhaps he was actually wanted by the authorities for doing something terrible, or maybe he had an incurable fear of flying or something else.... I had to get to the bottom of this and asked him, "why?" and his response shocked me. 

"It is too expensive."

Travel is always expensive, in both money and time. I was not shocked that the cost would be a barrier to Billy fulfilling his dream but I was shocked that he felt the expense would prevent his dream from ever being a reality. Surely that is the biggest cost in life, not living your dreams?! Indeed, Billy had not put in place any goals or plans to make his dream a reality.

Billy was a dreamer, not a doer.

Keep in mind I am not only a fairly practical woman (unless DIY or other home renovations are involved) and on top of that I am also an immigrant to Australia, when I followed my dream to move here, so I was entirely bemused that Billy would let cost be such a barrier to him. My concern for Billy was not from a place of judgement but of personal experience. I once heard a wonderful quote that travel is the only thing you can buy that makes you richer. That is richer in life experiences and all that stuff. I agree. I felt heart ache that poor Billy felt he could never even consider achieving his dream.

I took out my mobile phone (usually a banned item from the dinner table) and searched for flights from Sydney to Nashville the leaving the next day. I asked Billy how much he anticipated the cost to be. It turned out the actual cost of the tickets for his dream trip were only one third of what he had expected. When I informed Billy of this fact he was shocked. He couldn't believe it. Then I realized Billy hadn't even researched his 'dream' trip. He hadn't come close to taking any steps at all to make his dream a reality.

NOTHING.

We are all on different journeys and this is not to judge Billy or other people in similar situations. However, I strongly believe in taking up every opportunity that life gives us because making the most of life is so important.

I had to restrain myself from marching Billy to the airport and loading him on to a plane to Nashville that evening - just to make sure he got there. Instead as the evening came to a close I cheekily told him, "It was a nice evening getting to know you. It would be great for you to call me to meet up again - when you have got back from Nashville because I want to hear all about it." Interestingly, Billy hasn't called me since and I just hope he is still in Nashville having such a blast that he has forgotten all about me.

*name changed to Billy sounds like the name of a famous country music singer, don't you think?!