Write Back Weekend "Just Do It"

On Tuesday I asked the question, What is something that you always wished you could do well and why? Actually I really asked the question, What is something that you always wished you could do and do well and why? I didn't look at that one closely enough before I hit publish, but all is forgiven in the weekend edition of TITMT.

I wasn't sure what one thing to pick earlier in the week. Then the weekend rolled around and I watched the movie Stranger Than Fiction with Will Ferrell. In small ways, it reminded me of the question I had posed and yet to answer. Suddenly I was humming that Live Like You Were Dying song in my head, too. That's because the movie, the song and the question had me think of things from a different perspective.

Although it wasn't actually written in the question itself, I believe it is implied that a lot of us don't try things we want to for two main reasons: time and fear. Time that you had to goof around as a child seems to be non-existent once you're an adult. It's easy as a kid to wish to be a doctor/princess/teacher when you grow up. To children the possibilities are endless. Adults, however, know better. We pick a path and (most of us) stick with it. All the dreams of having it all end up being just that, dreams.

In the movie Stranger Than Fiction, Will Ferell believes there is a woman narrating his life as it happens. I won't spoil what actually happens, but the problem his character is having is that he doesn't have much of a life. Oh sure, there are things he wants to do, he's just spent so much time repressing those things and being a sucker for routine that even he has lost touch with what those things are.

Then there is the fear factor. What will people think of me if I do or don't do this? What if I look silly? What if I fail? Everyone has had these feelings at some point in their lives, fitting in and maintaining status quo is part of what makes us human. Even the biggest high school anarchists eventually give in, most of them anyway. Think about all those sixties hippies, too. Most of them drink Starbucks and drive cars like Volvo's now. I often wonder where someone like John Lennon would be now. Would he still be staging bed ins or would he be pushing the collector's edition of a Lennon ipod? "Imagine all the people" who would buy it.

But now I'm beginning to stray a bit from my basic question and I wouldn't want to be accused of evading answering it. I think if I could do anything well I would want to be a comedienne. Now I'm not looking for major stardom. I just think it would be fun to entertain people with my own opinions and observations. I'd aspire to have the career of say, Ellen DeGeneres or Tina Fey. They're funny, but still appear to be kind. They also writes a lot of their own material, which ties in to my love for writing as well. Sometimes I don't even know if I'd care as much about the performing of it. I'd be OK behind the scenes writing for others, too.

I never really pursued this dream though. Instead I have kept the dream alive through blogging here and entertaining the handful of you who are kind enough to read it. I don't know if I could succeed at my dream, but I do know that I've succumbed to the adult notion that what you dream for is often just that, a dream.

You never know. I might fall into it one day and be like Joy Behar. Former teacher turned entertainer. Right now though I'm just content having a dream, period. I think it's when you stop dreaming altogether that you need to worry. After all, I believe dreams, fulfilled or not, are the fuel that keep us alive.