You Can Be Living Your Dream Life and Still Wake Up to Nightmares

Something I have learned over the last few years is that you can be living your dream life and still wake up to nightmares. And I am not saying that as a motivational slogan. I am saying it because it is literally my life right now.

I live in my dream house. I drive the exact cars I used to fantasize about as a kid. I am married to the woman I always hoped existed. I have the family I always wanted. If you had asked twenty-year-old me to draw the life he wanted, this would have been pretty damn close.

But none of that means the daily experience is easy. Some days it feels like the more you build, the more there is to break. I still wake up with the same fears everyone else has. Nightmares about getting sued. Nightmares about something happening to my kids. Nightmares about a business challenge popping up out of nowhere. Nightmares about the fires I have to put out just to keep everything moving forward. Dream life or not, the stress does not disappear. The pressure does not go away. If anything, it gets bigger.

What I have had to learn is that both things can be true. You can have the life you always wanted and still face things that shake you. You can have blessings you never imagined and still deal with problems that feel overwhelming. You can live your dream and still have nights when you lie awake with your mind racing.

The difference, at least for me, has come down to perspective. On the micro level, the problems feel huge. They feel urgent. They demand everything I have. But on the macro level, when I zoom out and look at the whole picture, I realize I am living exactly what I once begged for. I realize the “nightmares” are just the price of managing a life filled with everything I always wanted.

I am not saying I handle it perfectly. I am saying I am grateful. I am saying I am learning to hold both truths at once. The life of my dreams and the weight of my responsibilities. The gratitude and the grind. The blessings and the burdens.

It turns out you can have your dream life and still fight through darkness. And that is okay. It is normal. It is part of the deal. The trick is remembering which part deserves more of your focus.