This piece originally appeared at Love, Rose, February 2011

Chasing a dream is something most people end up putting on the side. Work, family, a mortgage obliges them to focus on these concrete material tools or requirements of modern-day survival.

For some, the mere act of owning a home might be a dream they strive towards their whole life.

For others, like me and many of my friends, our dreamcatching is of the creative persuasion, and the results are often obscure and intangible.

Not that adversity stops us.

I spent the majority of my life dreaming about being a writer. When I developed tendinitis in both wrists as a result of a glorified data entry job three years ago I felt my dream dying. How could I hold down an office job and then come home to write when I could barely move my hands? And how important was this dream anyway? It’s not like I’d make a zillion dollars and be the next Stephen King.

As my wrist injuries worsened the Fates aligned in such a way that I found a part-time job that required no computer time, leaving my mornings free to heal and get back to what I always felt was my real purpose on this planet. For the last 1 ½ years I have been living my life-long dream of being a writer. No, I’m not the next Stephen King and yes it is financially frustrating to not have two full incomes, but each day, each word I write becomes its own reward. I am happier than I have ever been in my life.

And I’m not the only one. Rose, who so kindly offered me this space and your ear, will soon fulfill one of her dreams of illustrating a novel (which, incidentally, is my first novel. Those Fates are hard at work!).

Recently, two filmmaker friends were featured on LA Talk Radio’s Film Courage, and they are yet another example of dreamcatchers in the flesh. Oklahoma Ward and Nicole Alonso decided to dedicate their lives and careers to the art of filmmaking. In their interview Oklahoma mentions how they live and breathe their dream every day of the year, and  this is the only way to make it work. I agree.

Life is not about being famous or rich, it’s about doing what you love, “blooming where you are planted”, as our friend Tara Agacayak says.

I remember my life before I started living my dream. It was Dorothy’s black and white world before the the whirlwind that plunked her in Oz. Now I experience my life in technicolor, high definition, my arms linked with other kindred spirit dream chasers as we walk our respective paths.

As 2011, the Year of the Rabbit, explodes into being I pause, smile and bask in the blessing of following my dreams and supporting others who are doing the same.

Who are the dreamcatchers in your life?

©Sezin Koehler, 2011. Image via Blue Mountain