The Dichotomy of Daydreams

Hello, ducklings.

So I recently came to a realization that has been giving me some trouble. Let me tell you about it.

I have a lot of dreams/daydreams/fantasies/whatever, right? I have movies that play in my head as I wait in line to buy groceries, as I run my daily 5K, as I fall asleep at night. We all do, I’m sure. I have an entire gallery of daydreams, ranging from the fantastic to the mundane and everywhere in-between. But when it comes to dreams of my future—dreams that could actually happen, dreams that follow the laws of physics—they can be separated neatly into two categories.

The first category is the Famous/Notorious category. These daydreams all have one thing in common: in them, I am fabulously wealthy and I am a celebrity of some sort. I have become a singer, an actor, a model, an author, an entrepreneur. I host television shows and write witty articles. My face is on magazines and I endorse various colognes and fashion lines. In these dreams, I have somehow become rich and famous.

The second category is the Mundane Hermit category. In these dreams, I live alone in some gorgeous locale—usually on a tropical beach or in some scenic Oklahoman hideaway near a lake—and I spend my days doing my own thing, which is writing, painting, reading, and maintaining a huge garden. I indulge myself with amazing home-cooked meals and a house that I am constantly remodeling. Occasionally I have friends over, but mostly I live my life as a happy, isolated weirdo who spends most of his time outdoors, either in a forest or on the beach. Of course, in these dreams the source of income is not as obvious as in the first type, but I’ll figure that out later.

So…which type of dream do I pursue? I see happiness in both. I see health in both. I see appeal in both. Is it possible to compromise? Can one have the best of both worlds?

The thing is, the first type of dream seems to be heavily influenced by societal/cultural definitions of success. We are told from a young age that you are successful if you are well-off financially, if you have a gorgeous car, if you have a big house. The second dream category is influenced more by my “yardstick of success,” which simply measures how happy one is. However, I’m pretty sure I’d be happy in either scenario.

My mind is a little all over the place today. I’ve just recently realized that there are a whole lot of things I want to do and there is going to be a whole lot of work needed to get them done.

What about you? Do all your dreams line up and make sense? Or are you sometimes paralyzed by all the options?

See you Wednesday, angel faces.