Believe in the Reality of Your Dreams

The hardest part is always the beginning. No greater step is ever taken than the first. It doesn’t matter what you’re doing. It requires you to take a leap of faith over the mental wall that’s been towering above you. The mental wall that defines our reality in comfort and safety. The mental wall that blocks passion in favor of security. It’s what keeps our dreams as dreams.

When I first moved to New York, I lived in an eclectic Brooklyn neighborhood called Bushwick. I signed the lease before I had seen the apartment or ever been there before. I hadn’t even been to Brooklyn before. That was a leap of faith itself, but that story is for another time.

Exceptionally hipster, deeply Hispanic influenced, and riding high on the cutting edge of culture, music, and art, Bushwick is a haven for creatives from around the world. Some of the greatest nightlife in the country exists there, but what first encapsulated me was the art. Endless streets full of art. The entire neighborhood is a canvas, with every single wall, garage, and storefront covered top to bottom with murals, each one different than the last, a reflection of the people within it.

My favorite mural was on the corner of Gates & Irving. I would walk past it every morning on my way to work. It wasn’t particularly pretty. In fact, artistically it was one of the more forgettable murals along Bushwick’s massive canvas. But the message was not.

Hidden on the right side of the painting in black bold letters read:

“Believe in the reality of your dreams”.

My dreams were different then, but that message would always inspire me and has done so for the last three years.

It’s gone now. I went on Google Maps to look for it and confirm the street corners for this article. A new high rise apartment has been built where it stood. It hurt to see that. New York is a fast moving city, and anyone who has lived there knows the feeling of having something you love stolen from you. Whether it be your favorite bar, restaurant, or mural, at some point something you love will become nothing more than a fragment of your memory. But even though the art is gone, the message remains. It’s been with me for three years, and it will stay with me forever.

That motto has driven me to the highest heights of my life, and my greatest adventures. This is my new adventure. I want to travel the world alongside my amazing girlfriend Caroline, and share the stories of our life together.

I am not a writer. I’ve never written anything in my life outside of class assignments, and I didn’t know what to write for my first post here. But this morning I watched a documentary called “Just Start”. The concept being to just put down something, no matter what it may be. Do something that moves you in the direction of your passion. Don’t let your dreams stay dreams. Just start. So here’s to that start. I can’t wait to see where this journey takes me.

I believe in the reality of my dreams.

Joe

Gates & Irving - 2020

Gates & Irving - 2023