Those of you who know me, know that I am being facetious. I really do want you to follow your dreams, succeed, and live an awesome life. Put me in coach!

That said, I think there are actually real, serious reasons to sometimes not follow your dreams. If one of these reasons applies to you, I give you permission to take the easy way out and not work hard, not take risks, and/or not care. For the rest of you, what’s stopping you? Seriously, what is stopping you? No, really, tell me, hit my contact form and tell me, and I’ll see if I can help.

So here is the three excusable reasons.

1.) You are sick or a close loved one is sick.

It’s sad, but it happens. If you need to take time off from chasing your dreams to care for yourself or a loved one, I’ll give you a pass. Better yet, you can give yourself a pass. It’s totally understandable and acceptable. Hopefully there will be time in the future to chase your dreams, but putting them on hold now is okay by me.

That said, it’s my opinion that having children doesn’t “always” qualify. I mean once they hit a certain age, they could even help you achieve your dreams. Enlist them in your dream. They could help you study, help you make fliers, or help push you to keep going. Use that energy! Of course, kids get sick too, and that takes priority. Don’t get me started on babies!

2.) You are in school or serving your country.

Listen, civil service is important. I’ve done a little (not as much as I would have liked) serving as a civilian contractor to the Navy. That said, I applaud and appreciate the men and women of our armed forces, and yes, even the politicians.

If you are deployed or otherwise it is illegal for you to pursue your dreams, I’ll give you a pass for now. It’s only a respite, you’ll be back in country soon enough, and it’s never too soon to start working on your dreams, even while you are serving.

If you are in school, that needs to take priority. That said, why are you in school if not pursuing your dreams. You don’t really get a pass; I challenge you to study, and study some more. Study what will help you achieve your dreams (plus your other required boring classes). Be sure your major relates to your dreams or is part of your pathway.

3.) You are struggling to feed yourself or your family.

Yes, the struggle can be real. If you’ve never had to live off of food stamps or welfare, you might not understand, but it is real. As a child, my family was here. My mom and dad both would take any job, apply to everything and accept anything, that would help keep the family fed. They literally had concerns about our next meal, if we could pay rent, and if we would survive.

That said, most of us are not here. We have family to help us, we have friends who will take us in. We can get a job, especially if we are able and willing to move.

I know you are expecting me to say, if you are struggling to feed yourself or your family, you get a pass on chasing your dreams. You don’t.

Dreaming can be done with no money. While you are looking for a job, you could be going to the free library and learning to code Python. Chasing your dreams is possible, although, understandably, I give you permission to take that intermediate job to take care of you and your families needs. But while you have that temporary job, keep seeking, keep dreaming, study on. Don’t give up.

For most of the rest of you, having a “low” bank account, or “not being able to buy a house yet” are not valid reasons not to chase your dreams. If you are “struggling” but have food on the table, then, no, you don’t get a pass. Get to work! Keep on struggling WHILE chasing your dreams. It’s achieving your dreams that will get you out of the struggling phase. After all, chasing your dreams IS struggling.

So, that’s it, if you don’t have one of these three reasons, I challenge you, what’s stopping you from chasing your dreams, right now? Tell me.