10 Questions to Ask Yourself Before Giving up on Your Dreams

Editors Note :I asked these questions of myself in 2009 before my round-the-world adventures had begun. They forced me to harshly analyze my life, my complacency, my comfort and everything else I had known. I hope they do the same for you. Much love & luck.
The below ten questions are from Lori Deschene. Lori is an amazing combination of yogi, singer, traveler, and dreamer who sits with the dorks at lunch.

She is the founder of Tiny Buddha – a favorite site of mine to fuel personal reflection. A large home of quotes, blogs, and words of wisdom to inspire and move you.

Though these are personal questions, posting the honest answers online will give me much more accountability, and hopefully, personal clarity on the matter. Though I am fully vested in my new adventure- the plane still hasn’t taken off, and feeding the fire of desire is a daily job, or else the fear will paralyze me.

Hope Springs Eternal

1. Why did you want to pursue this goal to begin with—and has anything changed?

I have always had a strong desire to see the world. What more is out there? Who is out there? I want to know. I want to tell my children about the time I was couchsurfing in Seychelles, attacked by a monkey in Nicaragua, and toured an underground city in Turkey. I want those stories to enrich, surround and drive my life. I want to be the polished person that comes out of those experiences, and the compassion and knowledge that comes with having seen humans in so many environments and climates. It fascinates me.

2. Have you been operating with too much information?

I’m German American, we don’t believe there’s such a thing as too much information.

3. Did you set a smart goal? SMART goals are:

• Specific—you know exactly what your world will look like when you achieve this goal.
  
  Not necessarily. I don’t know where this journey will lead me to, what I will find along the way. I don’t know if I will ever come back to California to live. There are too many variables. I know I will have put 100% trust in myself. That is a triumph of its own accord. So much easier said than done, I am finding.

• Measurable—you have a specific plan to mark your progress as you go.

  I am documenting my entire journey on my site, for posterity’s sake. My progress will be every new sight I see, person I meet, hour I spend journaling, time I spend volunteering, and lives I touch.

• Attainable—you have the attitude and aptitude to make your goal reality.

  I don’t know about either attitude or aptitude, but I’ve got balls.

• Realistic—you’re willing and able to do the required work.

  I don’t have a choice. Every day will be work. Where do I sleep? where do I go next? why is my bag so much heavier than before?

• Time-bound—you’ve set a concrete timeframe for completion to create a sense of urgency.
  56 days. That’s urgent to me.

4. What’s the worst that will happen if you keep going and don’t reach your goal?

I get trapped in the life I am presently leading. I suppose the best way to put it would be the quote “it’s never bad enough to leave, but it’s never good enough to feel right”.  I love my job, friends, and family- but it’s not enough, its not what I NEED.

5. Are you afraid of succeeding?

Terrified; what happens if I reach this goal (that I once thought absolutely unattainable) and it’s still not enough? I develop another passion, another journey to embark on. What if all I actually want is to want? I am not afraid of success, I am afraid of losing passion once I get everything I want.

6. Are you acting on impulse or emotion instead of thinking things through?

If I never acted on impulse or emotion, I wouldn’t act too often. However, I have found a way to balance emotion and fact and come up with a happy medium. What fun would life be if all our decisions were cold and calculated? No fun at all, I say.

7. Would you enjoy giving a loved one the honest explanation for why you gave up?

I could never bring myself to be able to say “I gave up on travel, and what I wanted in life because I was comfortable, because I had a good job, because life was on auto pilot.” I would much rather have to say “I am starting over again because I took a year or two for myself and only myself. Because in the 70 years I am going to live, those ones were mine and because of them, I know who I am.

8. Would your life be better if you gave up on this goal?

Traveling completes and restores my soul. Without it, I become what I am surrounded by: Stress, pressure, deadlines, dollars, minutes, seconds, papers, filing, circles…. my life would be going in circles. I have nothing to lose by gaining myself back.

9. How much have you already put in?
Too much to turn back now. I’m committed to this project and time.

10. What would you tell someone else if they were in your shoes?
I’d probably tell them they were crazy, to make their list, check it twice, and always bring more batteries than you think you’ll need. What do you tell someone who has made up their mind? Good luck.

Well, as you guys can see, this all worked out in the end. I’ve turned my passion into my career and have never felt better or been happier. Sometimes it takes a lot of guts to follow your heart. I encourage all of you to look at yourselves and make the moves you need to be *that* much happier.