Shrinking Vision

There is a silly commercial on TV about a gentleman who downgrades his living space to fit his Internet speed. Have you ever seen it?

Many of us do the same thing with our reality. We downgrade our dreams to fit where we are right now, never considering that our circumstances will change and our realities will expand to accommodate the hopes that we currently have. Just like our bodies grow, so will our dreams. You can’t get there by staying where you are today.

Perhaps when you were four or five, you dreamed of being a princess or a cowboy. Not all of us achieved those goals so we modified them as we grew. We may have decided to become teachers, truckers, choir directors, or parents. Imagine if we were still stuck in our childhood dreams. We’d be feeling very disappointed that they had not manifested. What kind of lives would we be living now? Not everyone likes sour grapes.

We’ve had to recognize that as our bodies changed, our dreams had to. It wasn’t a matter of downsizing our dreams to fit our reality; for some of us it was about expanding our dreams. According to Megan Markel, the princess life is not all it’s cracked up to be. Take a good look at your life. Is it working for you? When you count your blessings, do they outweigh the things that disappoint you?

Sure, I’d like to have a lot of money, but I also know that money doesn’t guarantee happiness or health. When I look at my grandchildren smiling and laughing, it brings me great joy. When I see what good people my children have turned into, it brings me peace. When my husband tells me that he still thinks I’m beautiful in spite of all the weight I have gained, I’m truly blessed and I know it. Those things make me feel rich even if I can’t afford to cross the street.

Perspective makes a world of difference in whether we’ll be content or miserable with what we have. I choose contentment. I’ll never stop dreaming but my reality looks pretty good to me! How about you?