Real Life

Sometimes when I'm really in the writing groove, I tend to forget about my "real life." Writing often feels more like a dream than anything else, but it's not what I do all the time. I WISH I could do this all the time, how great would that be?But in reality, I have a day job. A wonderful, challenging, stable job that provides me a much needed income and benefits so that I am able to write when I can!This is the field I went to school for. I studied hard for. I took massive and seemingly impossible exams for. And when I introduce myself, I talk about this job.Not the writing.Why? Because it's my "real life."I know, I REALLY AM a writer. But I've always been a writer. I was writing all throughout college and grad school and the jobs in between, before, and after. I've been writing FOREVER. The fact that I am now a PUBLISHED writer, which still makes me shake my head in disbelief, hasn't changed that. I am a writer.Real life makes that possible. We all have a real life to help us with our dreams, and I am no exception.Real life gives me the opportunity to meet new people, to help them in the specific ways that I am able, and to take a step back from whatever projects I'm working on and engage with the real world. And you know what? Taking that step back usually helps me to get reinvigorated about what I'm working on. Or give me new ideas or perspectives. Or find new songs on the radio or Pandora station at work.Not kidding, that has happened.Sometimes "real life" can feel like it gets in the way. But guess what? It's your REAL LIFE. You need that real life. It keeps you grounded and helps you grow, and it allows you to have your dreams. To work towards them. To have something to aim for. And when you get there? When you can have your dreams and they become the new "real life"? You'll be better equipped to deal with that and will appreciate it so much more because it took REAL LIFE to get there.Let your real life supplement and support your dreams, and you'll be a lot happier. Promise.