What if your dreams aren't yours?
The day I stopped listening to everyone else
All those things you are running for, working like crazy for, consuming content about — are they really you?
Is it something you came up with, or is it something you got from all those voices around you?
You’ve found yourself in a trap you built around yourself.
Income numbers you wanted to chase. Businesses you wanted to build. An audience you wanted to grow. Topics you thought you wanted to discuss. At some point all of that was so loud in your head you couldn’t bear it anymore. You feel anxious and stressed all the time. You were spinning in the wheel, thinking about the life you wished for yourself and your family.
“Once I get there” was all you were thinking.
This thought woke you up early in the morning and was the only thing that helped you get out of bed. It was also that thing you said to yourself while declining meetings with friends, date nights with your girlfriend, trips, coffee, movies.
“Once I get there — I’ll live.”
You literally put your life on pause. You spent years doing just that — surviving, and telling yourself that at some point you would be free from the cage you put yourself in.
This is not the story where something magically happens and you are now living stress-free.
This is the point where therapy is worth considering. Because no one knows how many months or years you might spend chasing dreams that weren’t even yours. For months you might feel overwhelmed, and finally realise how foolish it was. How none of that matters. How you were spending your life on things that MAYBE at some point would pay back because SOMEONE said you should lock in, do the monk mode, go the extra mile, HUSTLE.
And then a question appears.
How often do you have ideas that are truly yours?
What if someone or something got into your head so quietly that you truly believe those thoughts belong to you? Was the goal really yours, or were you just stuck in a loop where everyone around you was either selling the dream or chasing it themselves?
The more you think about it, the more you realise that the vast majority of things you believed you had failed at — were never yours to begin with.
Some might say you’re just blaming others. Fair enough. But you also have to blame yourself for letting those ideas in and holding them so tightly that you forgot they weren’t yours.
There’s nothing wrong with inspiration or role models online. But only if you can still feel your authentic self in it. Inspiration should add something to you, not replace you.
Because those people are incredibly good at this. Putting ideas into your head is what they do for a living. They have to sell you those ideas in order to make money.
So yes, be inspired. But keep your guard up.
“Tell me what content you consume and I will tell you who you are.”
You might try checking your content subscriptions, and oh boy. Once you look closely you can’t ignore how many gurus are there. The consequences become obvious. Of course you feel anxious — you are constantly watching others succeed. Others who have teams, businesses, experience, time, and resources. And there’s you, alone, trying to build something meaningful and quietly burning out comparing yourself to people who are miles ahead of you.
But that can end now.
The plan becomes simple — digital detox is not news in 2026. Slow down, read more fiction, spend time with your family, or outside. Write more, create more. You still work, but you start building something that is actually yours.
And if you want to keep it that way, you have to protect it at all costs. Try to spend a week not chasing anything. Just being with yourself. Don’t watch YouTube, don’t go to IG or TikTok for a week. Be bored and you will start hearing your own voice. The one that you used to hear when you were a kid. Become that kid again and go do some silly things that used to be you.
I struggle with this a lot too, and it’s much easier said than done, I know, believe me. But just imagine if we started trying to return to ourselves. What kind of world would that be?
If any of this sounds familiar, you’re not the only one.
Reply or leave a comment. I’d like to hear your story.
Comments (1)
Great presentation of a truth most perceive but few will have the fortitude or discipline to put into action.