Story time! Funnily enough, ‘The Dream-Catcher’ was supposed to be the title of a project that I had been working on, but because it wasn’t exactly about anything. So I scrapped it and never looked back at it again. And that’s why I don’t understand why that was the first thing that came to mind when I was typing the title for this post. You see, ‘The Dream-Catcher’ was the turning point in my life as a writer, even though I’m still working on my way up there. It was when I had started writing ‘The Dream-Catcher’ that I was told that my work was good enough to be published.
But you know, I never felt like it could strike a chord with anybody because that story was terribly unidimensional and could have never been about anything other than bland story-telling. And so, ‘The Dream-Catcher’ was also my wake-up call. Ironically, a story that wasn’t about anything ended up being a lot more to me because of how it changed the way I wrote fiction. I’ve learned to read more, watch more, observe more and absorb more from every single piece of art that I can get my hands or lay my eyes on.
My Mom laughed at this when I told her that I was actually learning by binge-watching one series after another on Netflix for 2 weeks straight. And of course, it would seem like I spend a lot of time just wasting away when I’m actually just learning how to build a world of my own in a way that the four walls of a classroom can never teach me. Don’t get me wrong! I understand that a lot of people choose to study further because that’s what they want to do. I’m more of a ‘the-world-is-my-classroom’ kind of person and I’ve noticed that I do my best when I’m not defined by boundaries and maybe that’s not acceptable to some. But I’ve always played by my own rules, and I continue to do so.
We’ve all had our own versions of ‘The Dream-Catcher’. Something we scrapped because it didn’t really speak or connect to a higher purpose. Because it didn’t feel good enough, no matter how much we tried to flourish it. Something that told us that it was time to move on to something that actually could make a difference and reach out to the world in ways you couldn’t have imagined. It’s not easy, you know? Working on something and then abandoning it because it turned out wrong. But how else do you think everybody who’s a somebody made it up there?
‘The Dream-Catcher’ may not have been ‘it’ for me, but I have a platform to voice my opinions and I have, as Dumbledore so poetically put it, my ‘most inexhaustible source of magic’: my words. As long as we believe in ourselves and remember that the magic isn’t anywhere else but right inside us when we need to tap into some, there is nothing stopping us from being the best at what we love. Just know that it is okay to start over because you weren’t going anywhere with that project you’re trying to hold on to.
Chase those dreams that are larger than life itself. Be your own dream catcher and not the kind you’d let go of.
Cheerio! Xx
Hey guys! I hope you liked this post. Let me know in the comments below or share with someone you might wanna show this to! You can also reach out to me and say ‘Hi’ on Twitter and Instagram. I’ll look forward to hearing from you.
Yours truly,
The Shubhster.
Featured Image by Andreas Wagner on Unsplash
The Shubhster Diaries 