We all have memories the surround our dreams. Some of my earliest memories bring me back to writing. This shouldn’t surprise you I suppose, but it did me when I first started looking for what I wanted to do in life.
The funny thing is that I didn’t start looking for this journey of vocation until after I had finished college and started to doubt my path. I was a Sport Management major in college.
I worked in my career field for two years and left it. Then I went to work for a non-profit to put on conferences and events. After that, I because a claims adjuster for an insurance company, a job I still do as of writing this.
The Path to Writing and the Dreams of an Author
But my path to become a published author was woven throughout my past. I remember writing in a little journal I found on the shelf of a book case. I told stories in it. Wrote fan-fiction for shows I watched. And I can remember doing it without anyone else knowing.
Another such memory brings me back to a particular project where I wrote and edited a ‘newspaper’ which was a joint report on the American Revolution. I remember writing my part and then getting to help bring it altogether in a newspaper format. I loved it.
In college, after being told I was absolutely horrible at writing, I learned how to master the different styles and loved writing papers. There was not a topic or page length to daunting for me. I would stay up at a local pub/cafe and write my paper while drinking beer and listening to live music.
The path to becoming and author was marked by these events, but I didn’t realize it right away.
Pursuing Other People’s Dreams
Now, along the way, I pursued the dreams of other people too. In college, I wanted to live like Animal House in my fraternity. I wanted to be the general manager of a professional baseball team. For a time, I wanted to be a farmer.
Yet, these were the dreams of other people. The problem was, I spent years pursuing them without finding the satisfaction I imagined at the end of the rainbow.
Six years of college for a degree I used for two years. Four years of high school diving into my farming heritage. That’s ten year pursuing dreams that ended up not being mine.
This happens to everybody. It happens when we don’t know ourselves or we have outside pressures pushing us down the path that isn’t ours. And you know what, it sucks. It’s okay if this has happened to you, but it sucks.
What I Learned About My Dreams
We have dreams to solve problems. Sometimes, it is for our own problems. While other times, these dreams are to help other people solve their problems. The dream that goes back decades in me was to become a published author.
When that finally happened, I was solving my problem with my first book. It was the culmination of research, trial and error, and sharing my experience with becoming productive at work.
After that, with my other books, I have helped people walk more closely with God by creating devotional to help them connect with the Bible more. Yet, these books led me to a new dream that may have been there all along.
I dream of helping other authors self-publish their books. I want people to experience the joy that I have had with publishing. So, what started out as a dream to solve my problems has turned into a dream to help others.
What is your dream? How might it help you or others? Share in the comments below.
J.R. Heimbigner is a #1 Bestselling Author on Amazon who loves helping people grow in their faith and help writers become authors. You can connect with him on Medium, his website, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Substack!
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When I get my stuff together and write my next book I will surely need your help. My memoir has been flat as a pancake on Amazon because I don't market it anymore. I sell a lot of copies personally while traveling but the dream of being a best selling author on Amazon has been sidelined by life. I will get it done one day. Like you, sharing Christ with others and helping them grow in that relationship is a passion of mine. I will write a devotional one day too. :)