What does it take to keep a dream alive?

All good things start out as an idea. A seed is sprouted in our minds - maybe this seed is a dormant gene because how else can we explain why some people become athletes and some becomes painters. My dream is to write music for TV and film.

I didn't know it when I started 2 years ago, but the sync music business is something that takes a long time to see any results. I've gotten to the stage where I can now compose a track in a few days, and I've had 2 albums accepted into music libraries so far with more albums ready for submission, but it could take years to see any royalties or placements into TV or film for these tracks. Lots of work. No money. How do I keep this dream alive?

I was thinking about the practical side of things when I started this post: ways to stay motivated, how to keep that 'never give up' attitude, how to seek inspiration from everywhere and anywhere. But for me, being able to keep a dream alive came down to one thing.

House plants. Sorry if you're one of those people who loathe house plants or can't see any need for them in your house. But hear me out. I have lots of house plants. They bring life to a room, they connect me to nature, and most importantly, they make me happy. But they require constant attention, or they die. Every Saturday I walk around with my watering can and I give them the exact amount of water they need - not too much, not too little. I trim any dead leaves. Once a month I spray the leaves with water and carefully wipe off the dust. I repot them when needed. I give them fertilizer when they need it. I watch them thrive at doing nothing other than making me happy.

So how does this obsession with keeping house plants alive connect to my dream of writing music of TV and film. My dream started as a seed in my brain, and I allowed it to take me on a merry walk down a path made of gold. My mind became filled with dopamine as I imagined all the wonderful things that would happen when my dream came true. Then I discovered that it will take years before I know if this work will even pay off.

The reality is that there is one of 2 outcomes for any dream. Either that dream dies, or it lives. It dies because we realize there is a lot of work involved in making it come true, and we can't commit to that workload. It dies because we don't have the skills or knowledge to do more than daydream. It dies because we don't have the funds or the energy or the time to invest in making this dream come true.

The dream lives when we nurture it and give it attention and devise a plan to keep it alive. The dream lives when we embrace it and make the decision to not let it die. Like my house plants. I've made the decision to nurture them and keep them alive. Some plants may flower regularly, some may never flower, some only flower once every few years. And yet I keep them alive because it is grounding and cathartic and useful to other aspects of my life.

I write music because I love doing it, it was seed that grew inside my mind at a young age, and I have a long-term vision to succeed in this business. I need to make a living, so I'm willing to put the work into it hoping that this investment will pay off. I need to be mindful of not burning out either, and not become too consumed with doing more and more and more and more work.

So, I take note of what it takes to keep my houseplants alive and continually growing. The right amount of water. The right amount of sunlight. The right amount of fertilizer. And the same approach will apply to keeping my dream of writing music alive. It will be the right amount of work, the right amount of patience, the right amount of learning, and the right amount of growth.

Or I give up and let the dream die. But I think we all know how that'll turn out. We regret more what we don't do.