What Does It Mean to Be Living the Dream

When asked to define the word dream, most people say that a dream is either the nocturnal experience when a person is asleep, or an aspiration or goal a person wants to achieve. There is little that can be done about the first definition, but the ability to reach a goal, to follow a dream, is not beyond our control.

Age is often used as a socially acceptable excuse not to pursue a dream. This excuse makes people feel better, but using age as an excuse is becoming obsolete. Swimmer Diana Nyad swam from Cuba to Florida at age 64. Yuichiro Miura, from Japan, was 80 years old when he climbed Mount Everest. Fauja Singh, a British Indian marathon runner, completed the full Toronto Waterfront Marathon at the age of 100!

If pursuing your dream doesn’t call for physical agility, perhaps the creative journey is one that you’d like to take. Anna Mary Robertson, known in the art world as Grandma Moses, started painting at age 78. Laura Wilder was in her 60s when her first book, Little House in the Woods, was published. I’ve traveled the creative road for quite some time, and I know for certain that if you want to live the dream, you have to pursue the dream for it to become reality.

Pursuing the Dream

I’ve wanted to be a writer since I was eight years old but was encouraged by my family to forgo a writing career for a “practical” profession. I chose social work. That “practical” decision served me well for nearly a decade. Life was good. I was content, but I wasn’t happy.

When I turned 30, I decided that life was too short just to be content. I packed my bags, waved goodbye to my Midwestern hometown, and moved to the San Francisco Bay Area, where I found the freedom of being in a place where I could redefine myself.

In the Bay Area I worked a series of jobs and seized every opportunity offered to enhance my writing skills. It paid off. I took a playwriting class, and the first play I wrote was produced in a theatre in Berkeley less than a year after my arrival in California. That play has been published in two play anthologies, nominated and won several awards, and is still being produced in theatres decades later.

Since then, other plays I’ve written have been produced. I’ve been an entertainment editor for a newspaper and written freelance magazine articles, served as the Public Affairs Director at a radio station where I hosted a weekly arts program, and worked as a scriptwriter and script editor for a cable television series. I co-wrote a nightclub act that helped support me for years. I was in my 50s when I wrote my first novel. Now, I’m the author of numerous books written in four different genres, and my writing partner and I, both in our 70s, recently wrote and produced a film.

Pursuing dreams takes faith, courage and determination. Seeing those dreams come true is icing on the cake.

Sweet Icing

“Everyone possesses a unique gift, a spark of potential waiting to be discovered and perfected.” — Lisa Maydwell

These are the words posted on the website of Lisa Maydwell. She pursued her creative dreams. The mother of two daughters, Lisa worked at a factory for years to help support her family. At the age of 35, she enrolled in college to pursue a bachelor’s degree in education, and taught school for 17 years, winning Teacher of the Year during her tenure.

Often visiting family members in Atlanta and seeing how the city was becoming a filmmaking mecca, Lisa became interested in the craft. She worked on film sets in a variety of roles, learned filmmaking skills from YouTube videos, and strengthened her knowledge by attending film networking events. She was in her 50s when she decided to quit her teaching job, move to Atlanta and follow her dream of becoming a full-time filmmaker.

She faced adversity, but today she is a woman in her 60 with an eclectic list of films produced, co-produced, written and directed by Lisa Maydwell of Maydwell Productions. Her projects have won both national and international awards. In 2023 she received the I AM Award for Producer of the Year. The icing on the cake can be sweet.

It’s Worth the Effort

Dreams are as different as people, and often it’s the fear of failure that keeps people from pursuing those dreams. Nobody wants to be ridiculed or look foolish. But what might seem absurd to others might be important to you. So own it. Go after it. Turn that dream into reality. Don’t be dissuaded. Be prepared.

Learn as much as you can about whatever it is you decide to pursue. Believe in yourself. Build your confidence. Ask yourself, Will this make me happy? At this stage in life you’ve earned the privilege of at least making an effort to pursue your dreams. Believe me, it’s worth it.

Let’s Have a Conversation:

What dreams did you have in your 20s? Have you pursued any of them? What dreams do you have now?