Fade Away

While we’re living
The dreams we have as children.
Fade away

-Oasis

Yesterday I embarked on my first workout of Spring. The sun was high and the birds were chirping merrily. I decided to play an old Oasis album, since I was thinking of my family back home in Manchester. As I sang along to Fade Away, it got me wondering – How many of us have allowed our dreams to simply fade away? The song’s opening verse sings:

When I was young
I thought I had my own key
I knew exactly what I wanted to be
Now I’m sure
You’ve boarded up every door

What childhood dreams have you disowned as a result of ‘life’ getting in the way? I must repair that leaky tap; clear out the garage; tend to the garden; get on top of my paperwork; paint the fence; take the kids to after school club, visit my mother-in-law… The list is endless.

It seems that as we move through the system, the creative vision we once held as children gradually becomes lost: Yes – it would be great to be an astronaut, dear… But what about a real job? When I was a child, whenever asked what I wanted to be when I grew up, I responded without hesitation; an author and an illustrator. I adored Roald Dahl and Quentin Blake and wanted to spend my days immersed in the world of books. As it goes, my vision of becoming an author was soon replaced by logic and the need to get my grades and find a ‘real job’, just like everyone else. Like many, my childhood dreams soon lay dormant in favour of following the status quo. It wasn’t until my thirties that I allowed myself to tap into that realm of imagination and creativity again. Coincidentally, that’s when life, for me, began to flow.

What dreams have you boarded up behind closed doors? Today I invite you to dust off the key, open up those doors and allow your dreams to run wild and free.