By Jen Sincero Published by Running Press

7. FOLLOW YOUR FANTASIES
Now that I’ve given you all the kinder, gentler ways to figure yourself out, I’m
going to suggest something you’re probably not going to like so much: Jump
in the deep end and follow your fantasies. What do you fantasize about when
you’re staring out the window of a train, or before you go to sleep at night, or
when  you’re  pretending  to  listen  to  someone  really  boring  talk  your  ear  off?
Are  you  onstage  doing  stand-up  comedy  in  front  of  thousands  of  hysterical
fans?  Are  you  surrounded  by  your  beautiful  children  in  the  coziest,  happiest
home  ever?  Are  you  being  celebrated  for  building  orphanages  around  the
world? Do this exercise as if money were not an issue. Tap into what brings
you great joy instead of what you think you need to do to survive. If you had
an unlimited supply of cash, what would you spend your life doing?
Our fantasies are the most revealing peepholes into who we are and what we
think is awesome. No matter how out-there and ridiculous they may seem, they
mean something to us, and usually represent our biggest and best versions of
ourselves.
Our  fantasies  are  our  realities  in  an  excuse-free
world.
Meanwhile we’d all be mortified if anyone could read our minds and catch
us in the act—“I know, it’s totally stupid, I want to sing on Broadway.” Well, is
it really stupid? Someone’s out there doing it, so why couldn’t you?
Much  of  the  time  we  pretend  we  aren’t  clear  on  what  our  calling  is  when
what’s really going on is that we’re horrified to face it because it seems too big
or too impossible to make a living at or completely out of the question for us.
But  what  if  you  had  the  audacity  to  leave  your  excuses  and  your  shame
about  wanting  to  be  huge  and  fabulous  behind  and  really  went  for  it  full-on
anyway? What if you decided to do the most outrageous, most exciting thing

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you  ever  dared  fantasize  about,  regardless  of  what  anyone,  including  your
terrified self, thought?
THAT would be living.