We midlife idealists have a small problem. We are getting older . . sometimes slowly . . sometimes by leaps and bounds. However we slice it, though, OLD is getting ever closer.

Now, you may say that’s the case for everyone – idealist or not. And you’d be right, sort of.

You see, you and I have a bit of a dilemma that the others never face when it comes to aging. We have dreams that we’ve been dreaming for a long time – dreams about helping people and making real and significant positive changes in the world, but we haven’t gotten around to giving them life.

That’s right. Go look under your bed, behind the couch, back in the back of the closet, downstairs, upstairs, up in the attic. Some of your dreams may be quietly sleeping, others screaming for your attention. But they’re all right where you put them, and have been putting them all these years.

They never left that place where you told them to wait for you when you promised you’d be right back to give them life.

Ahhhh, but they were so to hopeful and shiny back then.

And maybe you have been coming back regularly – just to check and make sure they’re still there and healthy. Then again, maybe not.

Time and life kind of get in the way, don’t they?

So Many Dreams. So Little Time.

And let’s face it, at some point along the way – perhaps many points – we’ve all been told to buckle down and put the dreams away. Did you listen to that? It’s okay if you did. (There’s no guilt to doing what we’re told we should do.)

But like I said, time and life keep moving on. And even idealists grow older in step with the intertwined  movements of time and life.

So here we are.

Midlife idealists.

Aging.

And we have unexplored dreams – lots of unexplored dreams – waiting for our return.

Yep, sounds like a bit of a dilemma to me.

But there’s a catch. (There’s always a catch, isn’t there? That’s what keeps things fun!)

Dreams go on forever, but we don’t.

It’s true. A dream will sit and wait for you through eternity. But we – you and I – don’t have that long.

Our lives are much shorter.

And that means we have decisions to make.

But we’re idealists – dreamers. Decisions sound so much like taking action. That isn’t part of the idealist contract, is it?

You bet it is, baby!

We idealistic-types tend to get a bad rap for living in our own dreamworlds – “unrealistic” dreamworlds. You know: “Those who can, do. Those who can’t dream of doing.”

It’s not true, of course. We do a great deal of world-saving-type-stuff. Or, we think about doing it. Some do it – in great ways – and give hope to the rest.

Then again, thinking about doing counts, doesn’t it?

Sorry, not so much.

And that takes us back to that deciding part . . that deciding about doing part . . that deciding and then doing part.

So, here’s the thing: The world needs us. Our communities need us. Our little teeny tiny corners of the world need us. Even our families (however we define them) need us.

It’s time for us – aging idealists all – to do something very brave. It’s called, “Getting Off The Pot”. (Actually, most people call it something longer and more descriptive than that, but I’m not a potty-mouth.)

Regardless of how we choose to phrase it, though, this very old message is the same: “If you aren’t part of the solution, you’re part of the problem.”

Our Dreams Can Feed Our Legacy

If you haven’t done it yet, at some point fairly soon, you’re probably going to start thinking about how your life has contributed to making the world a better place – or not.

You’re going to start trying to figure out what your legacy is to those who are coming after you, and who matter to you.

We all do it. Even if we don’t have children and grandchildren looking to us to pass our life’s gifts down to them, we all still go through the process of assessing our lives.

In whose lives have I made a difference?

Who has been changed for the better by something I said, or did?

What did I do to save the world?

Yep, we aging idealists have decisions to make.

* We can go through the rest of our lives wagging our finger at all the many problems and injustices we know to exist, while continuing to do nothing but imagine how we would solve them . . if only . .

* Or, we can choose to hang out under the bed, behind the couch, in the back of the closet, downstairs, upstairs, up in the attic, and where ever else we’ve stuck our dreams . . chatting with them about the possibilities . . and promising to come back and give them life . . some day . . when we have the time . .

* Or, we can dust off those dreams and take a good, solid accounting of them.

How can I tweak this one to reduce the scope of that problem?

How might this other one help to turn around that nasty little issue in my neighborhood right now?

How could I put those two together and create something that would make these kids smile for a long, long time – or even a short time?

The really powerful thing about all those dreams we’ve been keeping is that we created them and we know what makes them tick.

And at our very core, we know what it’s going to take to make our dreams real in other people’s lives just as they’ve always been real to us.

In other words: We know how to give our dreams life.

Let’s Start DOING SOMETHING With Our Dreams!

We just have to start getting off the pot, and doing it!

How about it? You know your dreams have been waiting for just the right time and opportunity.

Isn’t that time NOW? And what better opportunity will you . . I . . all of us ever have?!

Let’s commit to doing something, damn it!

Let’s fix the cracks in the world, one dream at a time.

I know we can do it if each of us just takes one dream, and moves it one tiny step forward . . and then another . . and then another.

We’ve already dreamed the solutions into place millions of times over. Now let’s start turning our dreams into realities, before we’re too old and the cracks are too big.

What do you say? Will you join me?

One dream. One step. That’s all I’m asking, for now.

.    .    .    .

What problem(s) do you want to take on? And what from among all your dreams can you use to change just a tiny corner of it – or them – for the better?

Tell me what. Share your dream, and tell me how that dream can help.

This is exciting stuff, but only if we get behind it and make it happen. I know we can.

Keep growing my friend,

Gail

Tagged as: Aging, aging idealists, dreams, idealist, legacy, Midlife, midlife idealists, problems