My mother posted this quote on Facebook today: “There is a thought in your mind right now. The longer you hold on to it, the more you dwell upon it, the more life you give to that thought. Give it enough life, and it will become real. So make sure the thought is indeed a great one.” The quote is apparently credited to “daily motivator” Ralph Marston, which sounds cheesy, but I’ll admit it’s motivated me. With this quote in mind, I’ll share the overwhelming thought I had this morning as I trudged out of bed in the dark to get ready for work.
When I think about what I want most in life, something that comes to mind always is a life without alarm clocks. What I mean by that really, of course, is a life without the need to be at a specific place at a specific time every day.
Don’t get me wrong. This isn’t about a desire to not work. I love to work and would be utterly lost without it. I even manage to turn all my hobbies into work, one way or another. It’s not about the desire to sleep later in the mornings. I’m somewhat of a morning person and will get up on my own sometime between 6:00 and 8:00 AM (skewing earlier in the summer, later in the winter—I hate to get up in the dark), alarm or no alarm. Rather, it’s the burden of the time clock (real or metaphorical) that makes getting up on workdays so unpleasant—the knowledge that one must adhere to a specific routine, day after day, year after year.
I suppose, to put this into practical terms, what I wish for is to work from home and/or perhaps with flexible hours. Again, it’s not as though I wish to work less. I’m constantly seeking more work outside of my regular day job. Nor do I wish to be free of time constraints. I thrive on deadlines and am worse than useless without them. What I desire is freedom within a framework of deadlines—freedom to manage my time as I see fit in the moment—freedom to be in control of my own process, which is, after all, the aspect of work I most treasure. What else? I suppose, freedom to wear pajamas whenever I like (which, frankly, would be most of the time) and to take walks with my dog while the sun still shines. I have ideas about how I might one day live this dream, though they seem quite far-fetched at the moment. For now, I cling to these as distant hopes.
I realize, of course, that my complaints fall very much into the realm of First World Problems and my wishes hardly qualify as “great” by most standards. Still, I think dreaming is important and today seems to be the day for it.
Happy New Year, friends. I hope you’ll ponder on your dreams today as well.