Are you curious or crazy? Is your dream realistic? When people look at you with amusement or brush aside your latest idea, are they the mad ones, or are you?
If you are anything like me, you have failed at least once in your life. What one day is your greatest aspiration, fades into something new as you explore, learn and grow. It is a struggle to remain positive. I spent the week hustling a new business idea and have experienced a great deal of self doubt. Especially when, as will always be the case, you hear no, again and again. I have heard myself say to friends, “Am I crazy? Or am I curious?” There is a fine line between crazy and curiosity. After all, you don’t want to waste your time on crazy.
I had a friend when I was young who wanted to play football for the Denver Broncos when he grew up. The only problem was that he was not athletic. A key missing ingredient to his success. He was crazy. I often wonder if I too am that friend.
I know many friends who are starting over. They are changing careers at various stages in their lives. I would venture a guess that all of us have that “crazy” idea and when I ask you the question, what would you do if you knew you couldn’t fail, you probably could answer it. The problem is the voice in your head telling you that you are crazy. It doesn’t help that our memories are short sited. As you strive for something new, you seem to forget your successes. I thought I was crazy when I wanted to host a show on the Travel Channel. I wanted that to be my first job out of college. I can assure you my friends thought I was certifiably nuts. But, when the phone rang and a producer told me I indeed was being assigned to cover music and food in the Pacific Rim, I leapt from my chair to scream, “Yessss!!!!” So I ask you, is your dream crazy?
What is important to remember is something I have written about over and over again. Make sure you are enjoying the process. Don’t be tied to the outcome or the outcome will be polluted with your stress. If your dream is attainable, then enjoy getting to that dream. Enjoy your curiosity for indeed it is the curious who are called crazy the most. Remember what the 13th century poet Rumi said as you follow your curiosity:
“When I run after what I think I want, my days are a furnace of stress and anxiety; if I sit in my own place of patience, what I need flows to me, and without pain. From this I understand that what I want also wants me, is looking for me and attracting me. There is a great secret here for anyone who can grasp it.” -Rumi
GABRIEL SCHIRM 