dreaming versus doing

I've been thinking about dreams and next steps lately.  I hate getting stuck in waiting periods--waiting to hear if I have a job, waiting for paperwork from other people to be submitted so I can be officially accepted into a graduate program and register for classes, waiting for our life to settle down so I don't have to shuttle between two cities and live out of a suitcase constantly, waiting for...

I'll stop there.  

Do you dream like I do, with wonder and hope tempered by a dose of anxiety and an occasional touch of angst?  Lately, I've been wondering what, exactly, I'm dreaming of, and how, exactly, I will achieve something that I can't even seem to name.  Part of the problem with being a lover of language and a student of the liberal arts is that your area of study rarely translates into real-world work and practice (the other part of the problem, in my opinion, is the constant sense that you have to justify your area, yourself, and your work if you find it).  I want to do good in my life, to give back at least some of the blessings with which my life has been filled, but it's hard to figure out how the gifts I have could translate into something I can actually do.  

For now, then, I will keep dreaming of a sort of life that I can't seem to put into words and trying to figure out how I can begin living that life--how my dreaming can translate into doing.

These three posts from Not Your Average Ordinary probably played a role in sparking these thoughts to a much greater flame (compared to the little flicker that they've been for the last few months in which I've been only partially employed and the ember for years before that).  Those pictures are by nicole pierce photography, a happy accidental discovery on flickr.