Never Give Up On Your Dreams

For most of my life I had a dream of being a professional musician in a successful band.  I took years of piano and voice lessons, worked for free as an intern at a major record label, and graduated from a world renowned music program (Music Industry Arts at Fanshawe College) in hopes of making this dream a reality.

I tried hard.  I played in bands.  I recorded albums.  I got straight A’s in Music Industry Arts.  I spent every Sunday rehearsing.

But it didn’t happen.

And so, about 3 years ago, I decided to give up.  I was sick of trying.  Straining.  Pushing.  But most of all I was sick of being disappointed.

When I decided to give up my music dream, all I felt was relief.  A huge weight had been lifted from my shoulders and I knew that I would finally be able to enjoy music in a leisurely way without all the pressure to succeed.

Fast forward to the spring of 2012.  I was poking around in a thrift store when I came across a t-shirt that said, “I AM IN A PROMISING LOCAL BAND.”  I found it amusing, and so I bought it, cut it up, altered it, and wore it to the Music Industry Arts awards banquet (my husband Darryl is now a professor there, so we attend the banquet every spring).

I still had no plans of being in another band; I just thought the shirt was funny.  But about 2 months after finding the shirt, Darryl and I were presented with an opportunity to join a Paul McCartney tribute band called The McCartney Years.

I joined the band with few expectations.  I wasn’t thinking about success or fame.  To be honest, I didn’t even know if I would be getting paid.  I just thought it sounded fun.

We’ve been in the band for almost a year now, and things are really taking off.  Most our shows are selling out; some even have had waiting lists, and the feedback has been phenomenal.  We have a US booking agent, a European booking agent, and we have booked gigs in Florida as well as the Netherlands (and YES I’m getting paid!!)

I am now a pro musician in a successful band.  But I didn’t attract that opportunity by trying, straining, or pushing.  I attracted the opportunity by “giving up”.

Here’s a little secret:  you can never give up on the dreams that the Universe puts in your heart.  When you “give up”, what you’re really giving up is the resistance you have to your dreams coming true.

If there’s something in your life that you REALLY, REALLY, REALLY want, you’re probably paying more attention to the fact that it’s NOT HAPPENING rather than imagining the thrill of what it will be like when it does happen.  This prevents you from manifesting your dream because you ALWAYS attract into your life what you are focused upon.  If you are focused on “NOT HAPPENING” then you are going to get more “NOT HAPPENING”.

When you “give up”, you change your point of focus.  You release resistance.  Think of yourself as a beach ball being held under the water.  When you let go of the ball, it springs right back up to the surface.  Your vibration raises.

We live in a culture where we’re taught to try, strain, and push to get what we want; but what if that’s not the way the Universe works?  When you look into Nature, there is little strain.  Plants aren’t “trying” to grow; they’re just growing.  Everything works in harmony.   Life happens gracefully.

I was buying groceries over the weekend and I was trying to explain to the cashier that I wasn’t sure whether to buy the fruit tray (it was for the band – do guys eat fruit???)  The cashier said to me, “honey, you just gotta go with the flow”.  I knew immediately that it was a message from the Universe to relax and stop worrying.  When you release resistant thoughts and flow with the current of the Universe, all is well.

If you have a dream that’s not coming true, I encourage you to experiment with “giving up” on it.  Try it for a week.  See if you can release resistance by asking yourself, “how would I feel if I didn’t NEED this to happen???” (It often happens with couples that are trying to get pregnant.  They give up, they adopt a baby, and then they get pregnant with their own).

Is it time you “gave up” on your dreams so that they can start coming true? I’d love to read your comments below.