The Courage to Dream

It takes courage to dream.

It takes even more courage to dream big.

The bigger the dream, the scarier it tends to be. Particularly, if you decide you would like to chase that dream. So that’s why many people stop dreaming. Some people fear that having a dream is a way to torture themselves with something they can never achieve. But you are never given a dream without also being given the power to make it come true. So long as you are prepared to work for it, it is achievable. It takes courage to dream, it takes more courage to believe in your dream and even more courage to act on that belief.

There are a lot of people who will tell you that your dreams are too big. Ignore them. Dream stealers are not telling you what is possible for you. They are telling you what they think is possible for them. It takes the same energy to dream a big dream as it does to dream a small one. And a big dream will inspire you infinitely more. There’s a big price to be paid for small dreams. Namely, you might actually achieve them.

Many of you dream of being an actor or creator of some description. As actors and creators, you are particularly susceptible to people squashing your dreams, because your dream sits outside many people’s lived experience. People will tell you that it’s hard or that there are not many jobs and there is no guarantee of success. Let’s look at those things for a second separately.

1.     It’s hard. Well, to be good at anything is ‘challenging.’ No matter what the field, to be at the top of that field will be difficult and require that you work for it.

2.     Next, there are not many jobs. Good news, there has never been a better time on the planet to be an actor or creator. Ever. Think of how much content is created every single day, movies, plays, Netflix series, ads and not only that you can create your own plays, movies, online content. If you have a phone, a computer and an idea you can pretty much begin making a movie tonight.

3.     The third one was there are no guarantees.

So true, bestie.

Jim Carrey, told the story of his father being a really funny man but he decided that he couldn’t be a comedian because it wasn’t practical and he wouldn’t be able to make a living, (no guarantees) so he became an accountant even though that didn’t really make him happy. His Dad got retrenched when he was 12, putting the family into poverty. Jim said,

 “I learned many great lessons from my father–not the least of which is that you can fail at what you don’t want, so you might as well take a chance on doing what you love.” 

So, I dare you to dream the biggest dream possible.  But don’t just dream it.

Do the work!

Andrew “Dream Big” Wright