Don’t Shit on People’s Dreams
When Tammy moved My Loud Speaker to Vancouver, we drafted a new business plan from inside a cramped room in the corner of our mother’s basement. As many expected, the initial years were caked with failure, disappointment, and more failure. Friends were lost, feelings were hurt, and sometimes it felt like we were drowning in a pool of mistakes.
Just off the top of my head, I can already recall two major incidents in which we were ready to pack it all up and cut our losses. One of them involved an actual physical altercation, but I’ll leave that story for another time. In spite of the incidents, we kept going because we were naive. But, also, there was another thing…we had dreams.
Our hopes and dreams carried us through some really dark times; we had a vision of creating something bigger than us, something that affected others positively with or without them knowing it. And that dream led us to where we are today. We are small, but alive and kicking, and we have the constant love and support from our mentors, friends and family to thank.
I can tell you right now, it only takes one encouraging comment to ignore the hundreds of discouraging ones. Thankfully, throughout the years, we always got the encouraging comment we needed.
All in all, it boils down to this; everyday, someone you know is doing or is about to do something amazing – they do something that nobody thought they ever could. They break barriers, they achieve goals, and they just Make. Things. Happen.
Unfortunately, it is human nature to be adverse to change and anything “different”. So, everyday, these same people are doubted, discouraged, and put down for dreaming different than everyone else. I can not even imagine the number of dreams that are crushed and potential that is never realized just because someone is having a bad day and decides to take it out on someone else.
Today is not a special day, it’s just a Tuesday in July. But, today can easily be special. Today can be the day you support your friend’s dream to become an actor, the day you encourage your brother to start that tech company he’s been mulling over, or the day you insist that your father go back to school to get the degree he always wanted. Or, if need be, don’t say anything at all. Just remember this: don’t shit on people’s dreams. They might never be lucky enough to receive the encouraging comment they need.
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