If Wishes Were Fishes…

We’d all swim in riches. Or something like that.

We’ve all heard a version of this saying at one point or another. Usually this saying is used in a negative context in which someone is told to quit wishing their life away. But I think it’s okay to wish. Wishing is a way to deal with the difficulties of life. Sometimes wishes are within our grasp, and can be made a reality with a little effort. Sometimes wishes are pure fantasy. Sometimes they are hopeful. Sometimes they are filled with, and fueled by, regret.

Wishes are normal and healthy. Granted, we have to live in the real world and deal with it as it is. However, our wishes can help guide us along our paths and be quite beneficial when kept in perspective and used in a positive way.

In our younger years we wish for things like riches, fame, looks, and the like. I find though that as one ages, our wishes change a little bit. While they may still stay rather self centered, they aren’t quite as self-ish. Most wishes do revolve around our own self image, they begin to expand to include the world at large. Not only do we wish to make sense of the wider world, but also our place in it.

Let’s face it guys, life is a lot. It’s too much, really. How do you get through it without going completely insane? I can’t answer that for everyone, but for me I have to laugh at it, yell at it, write about it, and hold on to some of my wishes (I don’t call them dreams anymore, that’s way too optimistic for the world we currently live in). I also overshare with friends and strangers.

That’s what this particular post is all about. I am going to share many of my wishes with you, both the ones that give me hope and the ones that hurt my heart. Hopefully, this catharsis on the web will not only make me feel a little better about life, the universe, and everything but also it just may help somebody else who’s reading this to not feel alone. By the way, I had a few one liners stuck in among this list but I took them out as it just didn’t feel right. Let’s get real, y’all.

-I wish my dreams weren’t so big as a youth. Perhaps I could have achieved more of them.

-I wish I was better at this whole Christianity thing.

-I wish I saw my cousins more. I wish I saw my best friend more too.

-I wish it were easier to make friends as an adult. Real friends I mean, not just surface level.

-I wish I still had the self confidence I had in my 20’s and early 30’s.

-I wish I didn’t know so much about a lot of people. This is the downside of social media (says the guy blogging his inner dialogue).

-I wish more people were open to the possibility of God. I also wish conservative Christians weren’t so good at turning people away.

-I wish the two major political parties in our country weren’t so far apart on everything.

-I wish good grammar and manners were still a thing.

-I wish I weren’t so judgmental.

-I wish we’d seriously think about what kind of world we are leaving for the next generation. Environmentally, politically, spiritually, and culturally.

-I wish parents would listen more to today’s youth and not just dismiss them.

-I wish everyone had food to eat and a place to sleep.

-I wish everybody knew somebody loved them.

-I wish more people cared more about their fellow humans than their own pocket.

-I wish the best tasting food didn’t make us fat.

-I wish I had finished college. I also wish I was still young enough for it to matter if I did it now.

-I wish physical media wasn’t dying.

-I wish animal shelters weren’t so full.

-I wish big, scary, diseases weren’t a thing.

-I wish everyone would just do their part to bring this damned pandemic to an end.

-I wish I didn’t overthink things to the point of inaction.

-I wish I was better with math and money.

-I wish I didn’t have so many wishes.