Have you lost a dream along the way? Did you shelve it because of unforeseen challenges? Do you have projects that have become dormant due to time constraints or shifted priorities? Did you know that revisiting a dream or resurrecting an old project can be a profoundly rewarding experience, as it provides fresh insights, renews passion, and gives a sense of accomplishment?
When reviving an old project or exploit, we’re reconnecting with past ideas and aspirations, invigorating motivation. While the idea of resurrecting an old project is exhilarating, it has its challenges. One of the main hurdles is its potential for outdated or irrelevant content. What was once innovative or necessary might no longer be applicable now. Also, revisiting a dormant project may bring back memories of past failures or frustrations; overcoming these requires resilience and optimism. Though ignoring previous setbacks is a hard thing to do, it’s worth a try.
I have recently revisited a project that came out of a family challenge a decade ago. A relative said I was too pragmatic and not creative enough to write non-fiction books. Well, in 2014, I wrote “Future Perfect”, a novel about a woman without a known past who battles against secrecy, insecurity, and the unexplained kindness of others. A few weeks ago, I revived it after reading the Conversation’s 3 June 2024 article by Kate Falconer entitled, “You can now be frozen after death in Australia. If you get revived in the future, will you still legally be the same person?” It has been 10 years since Future Perfect was published, but the story has never been relevant today. Except for its cover, nothing has been changed.
Perfection doesn’t exist; if it does, there’s never enough time to achieve it the first time, but there’s always time to go back to improve it (There’s always room for improvement).
The first step to reviving a dream is to do activities related to it, e.g. changing a career, learning a new skill, or saving money for a trip. Revamping an old project is a journey of rediscovery, growth, and reconnection. With perseverance and an open mind, one can turn a “dream-only thing” and an old or unfinished project into a testimony of imaginativeness, resourcefulness, tenacity, and self-satisfaction.
“You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending.” —C.S. Lewis (British writer, literary scholar, and Anglican lay theologian, 1989 – 1963).
