What Exactly Is It That Stops You Following Your Dreams?


This is a guest post by Fraser Baillie, who last month took the giant leap of jacking it all in and hitting the road. Today he shares some retrospective thoughts, 3,000 miles from home at the far end of Europe, about the turning point that made his dream into the reality he now lives every day.

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What Stops You From Following Your Dreams?

The single thing that made a difference for me that day — about 19 months ago now — was a subtle change in belief.

I believed I could do it.

I believed I would do it.

And now I’m doing it.

(Cycling around the world, that is.)

The idea of quitting my job to see the world had been an unattainable dream for one day too many. Sitting in front of my computer — again — reading about the adventures of others, something started to change inside me.

That day, I seized the moment once and for all.

And so the first step to making my dream come true was as simple as deciding that it would come true; deciding that if I didn’t pursue it with all my heart it would never happen. Nobody else would pursue it for me.

Decide To Live Your Dream

The word ‘decision’ comes from the Latin word ‘incision’; to cut off.

To make a true decision, you have to cut off all alternatives.

This is the crucial difference from expressing a want, a desire, a ‘could’ or a ‘should’, all of which leave far to much wiggle room to stand much chance of happening.

I’d discovered the world of bicycle touring as a means to an end, rather than because of any particular desire to ride a bicycle. I’d wanted to go on an adventure to see the world for an extended period of time, and I was working endlessly to find a way to make it happen.

One day I discovered a movement of people making their way from country to country on bicycles.

“Brilliant!” I thought.

Then: “Perhaps this is how I can make my dream come true?”

And so began the journey — and what a journey it continues to be — from complete novice to actually touring the world on a bike. Many an evening I spent absorbing the wisdom of other bicycle travellers, planting the mental seeds, now being harvested by the challenges thrown up on the road.

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But the problem for most is not access to relevant, practical information. It is a lack of self-belief, creating all kinds of obstacles between them and the starting line. How often do you hear someone saying something along the lines of “I can’t do [insert dream here] because [insert excuse here]”?

Remove the excuses. Do it now, before the dream falls by the wayside.

The Universe Will Support You (If You Persist)

Something very special happens when you decide to follow a dream.

First, the universe will throw a spanner in the works to test your congruence. (The size and nature of the spanner will be proportionate to your lack of congruence.)

But once over this hurdle, designed to shake out the tyre-kickers, the universe will conspire to help you make your dreams come true.

“Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it” –Goethe

Leaving a good job and my loved ones behind, I was in way out of my depth. And I spent the first week on the road asking myself: “What was I thinking?”

Then, on my first night in a foreign land, searching desperately for somewhere to camp, the universe intervened — in the form of a stranger inviting me into their home.

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So try it now.

Decide to follow your dream.

And trust the universe to help you overcome the obstacles along the way.

Is today the day you’ll make that subtle change in belief that Fraser made 19 months ago? If so, do drop him line over at Cycle Hacker — the site he’s set up to explore the world of personal development via bicycle travel — and let him know!

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