Are You Foolish Enough to Chase Your Dreams?

How much weight do you put on other people’s opinions? When you’re making decisions, are you wondering what others will think? Are you paralyzed at the thought of judgy comments you’ll have to handle or dodge? This mental clutter can be powerful enough to stop you in your tracks as you pursue the beautiful vision you have for your life.

When you consider making big moves, it’s not unusual to worry about backlash. After all, it takes courage to go after your dreams, and sometimes you need to be willing to make a fool of yourself.

Being able to roll with the punches and even laugh at yourself from time to time is an integral part in making big dreams come true. Otherwise, you’d be too scared to take any risks.

I was talking with a friend of mine about the Fool card in the tarot deck (she’s quite adept at reading tarot). Like most tarot cards, she said, the meaning is often much different than you’d initially think.

The Fool card is about letting go of expectations, trusting your instinct, and taking a leap of faith. You’ll see The Fool walking, carrying all he owns in a small sack, and not paying attention to where he’s going as he’s about to step off a cliff. Foolish? Maybe. Trusting? Definitely.

It takes a rare person who doesn’t give any thought to what others think, but it’s a muscle like any other. The more you exercise it, the stronger it gets.

Practice taking small risks first to prove to yourself that you can survive the haters. With each move you make, the more your confidence grows and the less weight you put on others’ opinions. Before you know it, this clutter is merely a tiny ball of dust.

And remember, the haters are usually too scared to make their own moves so they’d prefer you stay small, too. But who knows — you may inadvertently inspire them to be their own fools!

Happy April Fool’s Day!

Photo credit: Maitri via Visualhunt / CC BY-NC-ND