Is that so wrong? Too much to ask? It’s the age old battle, I would assume pretty much since the beginning of time. How can I spend my days (or nights) doing what I love, following my passions as opposed to spending an entire lifetime following the rest of the sheep, herded along the freeways, taking the safe road to nowhere and needless to say not too happy about it?

After all, isn’t working at what you enjoy more or less like not working at all? Wouldn’t you much rather spend your days with a big smile on your face as opposed to a permanent frown? I know I would, that’s for sure.

And when you do something you’re passionate about, you end up with a much nicer end result. Such a wonderful feeling of accomplishment from a job well done. Can you just imagine the feeling of never wanting your day to end because you’re having so much fun? Only to be surpassed by the relentless amount of sleepless nights, laying there, so amped up thinking about all the things you want to accomplish the next day.

Heck, who needs an alarm clock when you never actually fall asleep anyway. Hard to imagine lack of sleep being a good thing but I guess in this case it would be.

No doubt that’s the life I wanna live. Knowing that tomorrow is going to be even better than today was. Wouldn’t that be the greatest life ever? I’d have to think so.

OK then, now that we know HOW we want our life to be, how do we go about creating the life of our dreams? In essence, how do we cash in on our passion?

First off, we need to identify what it is we are actually passionate about. Basically it comes down to a matter of deciding what it is you’d look forward to waking up and doing every day, rain or shine, regardless of whether or not you were getting paid to do it.

I can name a few things right off the bat. I’ve always had a passion for Antiques & Collectibles. The thrill of the hunt, the rush of the discovery, the interaction with the current custodian as it relates to purchasing the object, overcoming my overwhelming desire to own every rare antiquity on earth & finding a new caretaker and lastly, the warm ‘n’ fuzzies I get from knowing that my find is on it’s way to a new home, increasing the enjoyment of all others that get to view it. And then the process begins again. Sometimes you win and sometimes you lose but it never seems to diminish the thrill of the hunt.

Another dream of mine, ever since I wrote my first short story back in Elementary School has been to be an Author. Most likely fiction but as much as I enjoy writing from my heart, it’s entirely possible that I would also dabble in the non fiction genre a bit.

As I’m sure you can tell I’ve never actually taken any writing classes or pursued writing in any aspect so perhaps it’s the fact that Stephen King and I share the same birthday (NO, not the same year!) that might have something to do with my passion for writing, I’m not exactly sure. One thing’s for certain though, I really love Blogging and would truly enjoy taking it to another level.

I’d have to say that the third thing on my Passion List would be painting Murals. My goal would be to learn how to paint Trompe L’ O’eil, “Trick Of The Eye” Murals for both indoor and outdoor applications. For those unfamiliar with this style of art, in essence it’s creating the realistic feeling of something that although you know darn well it’s not really there, it appears so realistic that you have to question yourself as to what you’re actually looking at.

This can be as simple as a Faux plaster finish on an interior wall, maybe a window with a view of the vineyard in the distance all the way up to a giant hole in the outside wall of a building, thereby allowing a peek inside.

Of course, all of these scenarios are only limited by ones imagination. Unfortunately, this painting technique would require years of training to master and as such will have to remain a ways down on my list of wannados.

Right next to scowering the oceans of the world in search of sunken Spanish Gallions and Pirate Ships. I’m so enthralled by the thought of uncovering undiscovered treasures, one of a kind artifacts, things that mere money can’t buy. I get tingles just thinking about it. I guess I have some sort of an Indiana Jones complex.

So with the last two passions on my list being a bit out of reach (for now) it’s still entirely possible that I could make a go of the other two. I’m enamored with history and to be able to travel the globe in search of the rarest of the rare, only one in existence type items, with unlimited funding from a long list of interested buyers eagerly anticipating my next find would truly be a dream come true.

To peruse thousand year old buildings throughout Europe in search of who knows what and learning everything I can about the countries and their cultures would just be icing on the cake. And then to top it off, if I could write about my adventures along the way, then my life truly would be a dream come true.

So with all that being said, now comes the difficult part. How do I go about creating this so called dream life? How do I bridge the gap between following my passions, in hopes of making money rather than merely trying to find something that will keep me afloat for now. Not just another quick fix, regardless of whether or not I enjoy it. No doubt it’s gonna take a huge leap of faith on my part to even remain focused long enough to give it a shot.

Especially in todays turbulent world, it can be very difficult to risk everything (or in my case what little I have left) to take a chance on living a life full of fun & pleasure. Not that there are any guarantees of making money these days by following a safer, seemingly risk free path yet it can still be much more dangerous to climb out on the ledge and take a serious leap of faith, hoping for a smooth landing.

If you’re anything like me, I grew up thinking that work was a necessary evil we were all forced to endure in order to survive. Definitely not something to look forward to, that’s for sure. Anything you wanted to do or for that matter enjoyed doing would have to be squeezed in after work hours.

Getting over that guilt trip is a challenge in itself. Let alone coming up with a way to monetize my passions. It’s no wonder I never attempted this transition to fun and freedom prior to this, it appears to be a road filled with land mines, all of them just waiting to explode.

Should I even allow myself to dream of such a fantasy life, a life of traveling around the world in search of the unknown? An endless list of anxious buyers, eagerly awaiting my latest Blog Post direct from a beautiful white sand beach in Bora Bora, boasting of all my newly found treasures.

I guess what it truly comes down to is the fact that it’s entirely up to me to change my life. To create the life of my dreams. No one else is gonna do it for me, that’s for sure. In fact I’ve come to realize that mentioning to others about how you plan on changing your life for the better only brings out feelings of animosity and then the negativity begins to flow. “How dare you try to enjoy your life when I’m stuck here at my 9 to 5 job, kids, mortgage, car payments, living paycheck to paycheck and no way out.” At least from those that still have a regular job, not exactly a gimme in todays economy.

I’ve always known that I’m not a 9 to 5er, yet I lived that life for many years. It was a miserable existence and one I’m not the least bit eager to go back to. I enjoyed Real Estate (at least the way it USED to be) but until the R.E. Market comes back, not much guaranteed income there either.

Hmmmmmm, what is it then that I’m really risking here? No wife, no kids, no mortgage (thank you Banks), maybe there really is no better time than now to give this thing a shot. Why not? Why not cash in on my passion? After all, the only thing stopping me….is me.

If you can relate to pursuing your passions, chasing your dreams and living the life you always wanted, I’d enjoy hearing your comments in the box below and if you know of someone struggling with getting out of the rut known as living someone elses idea of how their life should be, I’d appreciate it if you would share this post with them. Thank you.

OK, so I never know when to shut up. No idea when enough is enough. Too many thoughts, so little mind. Ooops, I mean so little space. I’m well aware that my Blog Posts are extremely long, thank you. And yes, some might even consider them to be too long.

But here’s my dilemma. How am I supposed to be able to stifle a thought, an idea? How do you stop in the middle of a tumultuous tale? How can you even begin to put a limit on genius?

If you remove the beginning, how can your audience hope to get a feeling for where it is exactly you’re thoughts are coming from? Let alone which direction you’re heading? How they got to this point in the first place?

Leave out the end of your Post and it’s just a big build up leading to an even bigger let down. Like leading the herd to the edge of a cliff and telling them they will get to the ‘ending’ [literally] if they just trust you and keep heading forward.

Of course, they do get an ending of sorts so in essence you did deliver on your promise BUT more than likely most of those that did take your advice, choosing to jump off the cliff in search of the ‘climax’ won’t be coming back to your Blog any time soon.

Even if you choose to keep the middle of the story, the ‘meat & potatoes’ so to speak, what’s to keep you from adding the necessary ‘condiments’, the extras, all the things that turn a snack into a meal? I’m not talkin’ Lobster here, just the trimmings.

Next thing you know, it’s spilling off the plate. Not even the place mat can contain it all. At that point you’re basically FORCED to move forward because even though you’ve already trimmed all the fat before you even got started, saving all the ‘good parts’ has only served to create a more appetizing ‘nugget’ while sacrificing a feeling of fullness. Similar to a Chinese meal, you’re hungry again in half an hour.

So difficult to resist the ‘add ons’. I mean c’mon, how can you have a decent Top Sirloin without A1 Sauce? OK, OK, I’m not talkin’ a Ruth Christ ‘Dream Steak’ here but a decent steak nonetheless. I also like to throw in a bit of butter and sprinkle on some pepper but hey, that’s just me.

Then you have the baked potato sitting there, naked as can be. Butter? That’s a no brainer. Sour Cream? You bet. Chives? Why not? Heck, a few of us lunatics [yes, I'm one of them] like to add a bit of ketchup to this delectable American staple and next thing you know, you need a separate plate for the potato as it’s turned into a meal of its own.

At that point, your meal looks kinda ‘half baked’ without a nice, fluffy salad to balance things out. Here we go again, get out another plate!

And so it begins anew. Iceberg lettuce? I don’t think so. Not with THIS meal. Spinach, Romaine, anything but Iceberg. Then you pretty much have an endless amout of ‘add ons’ that will bulk this up to be a ‘real’ salad, one befitting the rest of your oversized meal. Don’t even get me going on the dressing, that’s another story entirely.

Hang on! Steak. Potato. Salad. The only thing missing at this point is dessert. The list of delectable choices is neverending, all of which would be perfect compliments to the exquisite meal that you’ve created.

This doesn’t begin to take into account any ‘appetizers’, let alone drinks. It’s beginning to get so painfully clear just exactly how a Blog Post can get away from you in quite a hurry, as this one obviously has from me. Next thing you know, you’ve got a Novella on your hands. YIKES!

All your attempts to keep it short, simple and to the point have more or less gone out the window. So difficult to get your point across knowing that with each word you write, you’re coming closer to the impending end. The edge of the cliff, the point of no return.

Yet proceed you must. There’s no turning back, too many hungry appetites to feed. Don’t want to leave your readers starving for more. Or do you?

Can you leave them hangin’ with a Part Two, let alone a Part Three? Will they be intrigued enough to ‘tune in’ again at a later date? More than likely they’d have to re~read Part One again before proceeding on to Part Two and beyond, adding a bit of redundancy to your story which simply has to put a serious hurt on the anticipation level of your ‘Taller by the minute’ Tale.

Maybe if you wrote the complete 2000+ word Post in its entirety, then just ‘cut it’ into manageable ‘chunks’ without a ‘heads up’ as to where in the story line this was going to occur, perhaps this might allow you to keep the level of intrigue at its peak. Hard to say without experimenting with it a few times.

One thing’s for sure, this whole ‘Post shortening’ thing definitely goes ‘against the grain’ for me. It’s painfully obvious that I have alot to say, whether Blogging or in person so knowing that I have to stifle my thoughts ahead of time gives me no writing satisfaction whatsoever. As I mentioned earlier, knowing when to shut up is not one of my strong suits.

Take this Post for example. This was supposed to be an exercise in Blog Post ‘limiting’, my first attempt at a Post that was high on content yet short on ‘fluff’. So much for that experiment.

Next time I think I’ll stick with a TV Dinner or maybe even just a bowl of cereal. Something that’s more or less ‘self contained’ with a designated beginning and an obvious ending. Both of which are easily seen right from the start.

Fulfilling? Not hardly. Satisfying? Probably not. But I guess it fits more into the description of a ‘so called’ Blog Post. At least more inside the general consensus of what a Blog Post should be. So that’s a start anyway.

After all this, it still leaves the question unanswered. “How DO you stop a Brainstorm?” I’m not really sure but stay tuned because if I do figure it out, no doubt I’ll be blogging about it.