2020 FELT LIKE the Wild West. Toilet paper raids. Bandana-veiled faces everywhere you went. Strange times.

It was that “what is actually going on here?” energy which inspired my partner and crime Greg and me to do something drastic.

We left our jobs, followed our curiosity and started ​The Dare to Dream Podcast​ to document our journey.

The beautiful thing is that as we’ve taken our dreams more seriously and refined our aspirations, the weight, the pressure that we originally felt, has diminished.

It hasn’t been a linear path; there have been peaks and valleys and there’s still so, so far to go. But on ​Greg’s visit to Japan​ we realized that the finish line, wherever the hell we end up, doesn’t really matter.

I’m grateful for that insane season of life on planet earth; it opened many of our eyes to what is possible; it actually emboldened Greg and me to dig deep and take a chance on ourselves.

If not then, when?

We embarked on this journey to encourage others to follow suit and take that first step.

That’s all you must do to change the course of your life, for since we’ve taken ours, creativity, passion and love have guided our souls.

That’s the greatest gift that going for your dreams could ever give.

On Greg’s visit, we drank coffee and lemon sours and explored audacious individual ambitions; while hiking or sitting on the hostel porch in the rain, we reflected on the lives we hope to one day live.

But at that point, will we be any more happy than we are today?

We think we should be — that’s the great human conundrum. Once I reach that point, then I’ll be happy.

“Human beings appear to be happy just so long as they have a future to which they can look forward,” writes the 20th-century philosopher Alan Watts in The Wisdom of Insecurity.

“Whether it be a ‘good time’ tomorrow or an everlasting life beyond the grave… If happiness always depends on something expected in the future, we are chasing a will-o’-the-wisp that ever eludes our grasp, until the future, and ourselves, vanish into the abyss of death.”

The goals impel us, and it should be said that without an aim, we’re much more susceptible to feelings of being lost and discontent.

We must feel like we’re progressing towards something, anything, even, perhaps especially, if that’s just to find the thing which lights us up inside.

But striving for our dreams mustn’t blind us to the magic of today.

While doing pushups and pull-ups in the sunshine of a local park, Greg and I talked about how grateful we are just to be alive. That is no joke.

We’re alive, able-bodied, here, today.

This life is a gift, and we felt like a couple of kids having the time of our lives — because that’s what this is — the time of our lives, every second which ticks away.

We are here on this earth to savor the wonder of being human and there’s nothing that will change that.

Not crossing some illusory finish line; not a dollar amount in the bank account, a prestigious title or follower count.

As our dreams have become more real, the pressure to be which felt so important in the beginning of this adventure, paradoxically, has subsided.

Set your aim, determine your North Star, for it is important to have a direction in which to move, however slowly — and then release the weight.

We know we’ll get to where we’re meant to go, but what’s more important is to cherish every step, even when in the moment it might hurt to walk.

As you gaze upon that glimmering star way out in the distance, remember that it’s okay to stop and go where the beauty of the starry night leads you, even if that’s somewhere you never expected.