Dear Graduates,
After I finished applying to Antarctica and Patagonia, they told me that it was maybe time to start looking for a real job. That I should check Linkedin, or my Alumni Network for “opportunities”.
Thing is, I don’t see “opportunities” the way they do. I am petrified of ending my life behind a desk, staring at a monitor.
I want to be a boat builder, a poet, a musician, a triathlete, a teacher, a husband, a father, a firefighter, a pilot, a chef, a carpenter, a gardener, an entrepreneur, a dancer, a sailor, an adventurer, a writer, a photographer, an architect, a mechanic, a craftsman, a storyteller, a freediver…
So much I want to be and so little time. I doubt I will find any of these “opportunities” through my Alumni platform. No, over there it’s more about being a “Manager”, a “Supervisor” and a “Consultant”.
Yet I need to feel that what I create is unique, that I am alive for a very specific reason. That my work will live on after my last breath. There is no better way to dive in the abyss of motionless life than by spending 60 hours a week in a place you don’t like, doing something you despise.
I feel the need to see what I create. I need to feel it become alive under my hands, I need to craft, I need to create.
On the other hand, I know how my mind works, and I tend to romanticize A LOT. I am a dreamer, with barely a foot on the ground and my head in the clouds thousands of miles away. If on some occasions it may be a great trait, it can often become dangerous when the mind gets confused in between dreams and reality. Of course you’ll always find someone to tell you that we all have the chance to “change our lives, live our dreams” and that I could become a boat builder-singer songwriter-writer-photographer-adventurer-chef-fire fighter-freediver, but the reality is different. What I’ve learnt these last few months after graduation is how to pace your dreams like you pace your heartbeat. Try things out before committing yourself, resist the temptation of buying the latest top of the line triathlon bicycle if your goal is only to finish the race. Don’t buy the best looking car if you just passed your driving test. Don’t buy that shirt because it’s trendy and she likes it, she prefers you shirtless anyways. Don’t buy it because you can, buy it because you need it.
Pace your dreams with the reality that dreams change over time.
Be consistent in the direction of your goals, do your best to align your goals with your own reality. Do you want to settle down and have a family? Do you want to send you children to University? Do you prefer to live without children, do you want to be close to your family ? Now I’m not saying “Dream Small”, God no. I’m saying “Dream BIG, and live BIGGER”. I’m saying “Aim for the Moon and land on the Moon.” (also because you’ll never reach the stars anyway) Be inspired by what you do, and inspire others. Be responsible about your dreams, think it through, do your best to find a balance in between the comfort of having a monthly salary and the adventure of living out of your Ford Fiesta traveling around the world, and then work towards that dream like never before.
As a native french speaker, there’s always been this one word that I struggled translating.
“Bonheur”
From my point of view it is a lot more powerful than “Happiness”, it’s more mature, more deeply rooted in the depths of who you are. It is also linked to that instant in time when all the planets align for you and there is nothing you would rather be doing, nothing that could possibly reach you. It is a long term feeling, longer than simply “being happy”. It is a stage in Life during which you don’t aspire to anything else than just living, as there is nothing else that could make you “happier” than your current situation. I believe that this feeling is what every human being aspires to. I believe that it is the ultimate feeling that makes you realize that yes, this life was worth living.
In addition to being inspired, I wish you to find “Bonheur” in whatever shape or form that may be.
Be inspired to defy the odds of being a clone, be inspired to defy the possibilities that this life gave you.
Be inspired to dream bigger, more often, with more panache.
Be inspired to live bigger, more often, with more panache.
Don’t just live. Be ALIVE
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Originally published at medium.com