Head in the Clouds?

I've wanted to be a writer since e'er I remember. It's been a dream of mine which I've longed to turn into a reality. It has always sounded to me like fascinating work, living off my creative juices and filling the world with my ideas and inspiration.

But whenever I told someone about what I wanted to do I always seemed to get the same reaction - a dubious look on the listener's face and a wash of comments like "That's nice, but what about doing something serious with which you can eke out a career" or "Head in the clouds again? You know that it's a tough field, millions of challengers, and your chances of success are very small."

For many years I allowed myself to be swayed by these opinions and forced myself to settle down, get a "normal" job, and forgo my dreams. I lived this life for quite a few years and was even very successful at it.

But one morning I was lying in bed and I took a look at my life. I had it all: security, friends, food and shelter, and a job where what I did mattered to people. I had it all - so why wasn't I happy? Wasn't this what I'd worked so long to achieve? Wasn't this the life I was told to expect, the life I had strived to create? Wasn't this the promised land?

It then dawned of me that my peers had been right about one thing: I did have my head in the clouds. But I've had my feet firmly embedded in the bedrock of the promised land. What this meant was that I was hopelessly stretched like a man on the rack, and in the same type of agony. I had gained the customary wealth of a bourgeois society, but lost the light from the treasure of my dreams - and only because I had been too afraid to lift my feet from the stability of the ground and allow myself to fly.

I believe that there's nothing wrong with having your head in the clouds. This only becomes a problem if you have yourself deeply entrenched - irrevocably rooted - in the ground. If you want to aspire to more than the mundane, everyday man, you need to be able to uproot yourself and let your feet leave the ground so that you can soar through the sky of the clouds.

There will always be people who will warn you of the dangers of flight. There will always be those who try to keep you grounded. But if your head is "in the clouds" - and you like it there - then be willing to join it up in the stratosphere. Know the dangers but don't be ruled by them. Take a risk. And fly...

Life's a Beach

I love going to the beach, don't you? I thought I'd make a few comparisons between beaches in the UK and in the US.

Coming from a land-locked country I had only ever seen beaches on TV. And the ones they generally show are the fantastic white sand beaches of the tropics. Can you imagine my disappointment when I arrived at Brighton Beach?

Have a look at this picture. Here we have the world-famous Brighton Beach, along with the equally renowned old pier in the background. It is, I'll admit, quite a breath-taking scene, the way the pebbles slop down gently into the ocean, the soothing sound of the waves softly stroking the coastline. You even find an occasional fruitcake surfer who has decided to brave the icy grip of the North Sea.

Drive a few minutes down the coast and you are rewarded with a view the like of which you'll never witness anywhere else. Here I'm talking about the majestic cliffs of Beachy Head. Looking out from these you are immediately caught up in the splendor that is England. Where else can you get scenic pictures like these:



I found that my disappointment soon turned to wonder at the opportunities with which I was faced here. Sure, I wasn't going to be able to go swimming in the sea (unless I wanted to turn into a meat popsicle), nor would I be doing much sun-bathing. But there were so many other - new - things to do. Things I hadn't even imagined doing at the beach.

On the other side of the coin, I recently had the chance to live on the far side of the Atlantic, in Florida, for a while. Here you have a completely different view of things. Take a walk on a beach on the Gulf Coast and you have the classic white sand beach, complete with tonnes of tourists, weird and wonderful umbrellas, and countless other odd and ends customarily associated with beach life.

This is where you go if you want the hot sun, the cool waters and the genuine "summer holiday" feel of the beach. It's what you would expect of any tropical getaway, replete with all the warmth so typically absent in an British resort. I also thoroughly enjoyed myself here.

So, are they really that different?

It is my opinion that the thing that makes them different is solely viewpoint.

What I mean by that is this: if you are going out to the beach and have determined to have a good time no matter what, and if you are of the frame of mind that you will not be disappointed, come what may; then it doesn't matter where you go, or what you do. All the fun and enjoyment that you have in your life comes from within you.

Look back at your own life. Haven't there been things that made you mad or sad, and when you look back on them you can only laugh? Haven't there been times when something happened and you reacted, and other times when the same thing elicited a different response?

Well, what was the difference?

Our lives are filled by many varied and sometimes difficult situations. What really matters in the end is how you view them and what you let yourself think about them.

Well, that's my opinion, for what it's worth.