So, I wanted to chat a bit about this thing I’ve been trying out, someone called it the “dreams and reality game.” Sounds a bit lofty, I know, and honestly, when I first heard the phrase, I kinda rolled my eyes. Another self-help gimmick, right? But things were feeling a bit… stuck. You know that feeling? Like you’re on a hamster wheel, doing all the things, but not really getting anywhere you actually want to be.
How It All Started
I was just going through the motions. Work, chores, collapsing on the couch. My big plans, those things I’d daydream about? They were just… daydreams. Always “someday.” And “someday” was starting to feel like “never.” I read an article somewhere, or maybe it was a podcast, I don’t even remember, but it mentioned this super simple idea of just, well, comparing what you say you want with what you actually do. Seemed too basic to work, but I figured, what have I got to lose? My current system of “hoping for the best” wasn’t exactly knocking it out of the park.
Getting Down to Brass Tacks
So, I grabbed an old notebook. Nothing fancy. Didn’t want to make a big production out of it. The “game,” if you can even call it that, was straightforward. Step one: Every morning, or whenever I remembered, I’d try to jot down one or two things that felt like my “dreams.” Not like, winning the lottery dreams, but actual stuff I wanted to achieve or experience. Learn a new skill, finish that darn garden project, you get the picture.
Step two: Then, at the end of the day, before my brain totally shut down, I’d list out what I actually did. And I mean, the real stuff. “Attended three pointless meetings.” “Spent an hour scrolling through cat videos.” “Managed to cook dinner instead of ordering pizza.” The good, the bad, the ugly.
The Cold, Hard Truth of It
Let me tell you, those first few weeks were brutal. It was like holding up a mirror to all my procrastination and wishful thinking. My “dreams” list would have something like “Work on my novel,” and my “reality” list would be a blow-by-blow of a day spent doing everything but that. It was pretty depressing, not gonna lie. It felt like I was failing my own game, big time.
There was this one particular Tuesday, I remember. My dream was “Spend an hour learning Spanish.” My reality? “Fixed a leaky faucet (took 3 hours), argued with customer service, ate leftover pasta, watched news, felt overwhelmed.” Not a word of Spanish in sight. It was almost comical, how disconnected the two lists were.
I started to see patterns. So much of my day was just… reacting. Putting out fires. Or just drifting. Very little was intentional, deliberate action towards those things I claimed were important to me. It was a bit of a mess, my daily routine, when I laid it out like that.
Finding My Way Through It
I almost gave up a few times. Felt a bit silly, writing this stuff down. But I’m stubborn. So, I kept at it. And slowly, something started to shift. Not in a magical “poof, all my dreams came true” kind of way. More like, I started to become more aware. That’s the key word, I think. Awareness.
Seeing that gap, day after day, between what I wanted and what I did, it started to bug me. Enough to make me think, “Okay, maybe I can find 15 minutes for that Spanish lesson before I turn on the TV.” Or, “Maybe that garden project isn’t a mountain, maybe I can just clear one small patch today.”
I started to negotiate with myself. Some “dreams” I realized weren’t even really mine. They were things I thought I should want. So, I crossed them off. No guilt. And some small, everyday actions, I realized, were actually helping me feel better, more aligned, even if they weren’t on some grand “dream” list.
So, What’s the Score Now?
Well, I wouldn’t say I’ve “won” the dreams and reality game. I don’t think there’s a finish line. Life’s still messy and unpredictable. But that notebook? It’s still on my nightstand. Some days the lists align a bit better. Some days, it’s still a bit of a train wreck. But the difference is, now I see it. I’m not just drifting quite as much.
It’s less about achieving some perfect, Instagram-worthy life and more about just… being a little more honest with myself. And trying, just a little bit, to steer the ship instead of just being tossed around by the waves. It’s a practice, not a perfect science. And for me, that simple act of writing it down, of facing the music, it’s made a difference. Maybe it’s not for everyone, but it’s been a pretty interesting experiment for me, this whole “dreams and reality” thing.
