Are You Chasing Borrowed Dreams?

The Scroll Effect

You’re scrolling through Instagram.

A guy your age just posted a photo in front of a car you’ve never driven.

Someone else is celebrating a “six-figure launch.”

Another is on a beach in a country you’ve never seen.

It’s hard not to pause and think: Should I want that too?

This is where borrowed dreams creep in. You don’t set out to chase them, but they slip in quietly. What starts as admiration turns into comparison. What started as curiosity turns into pressure.

You begin building goals that look impressive on the outside, but you never stopped to ask if they actually excite you.

That’s the trap.
Not every dream you admire is yours to chase.

This issue is about spotting when you’re living by someone else’s script, and how to shift back to goals that belong to you.

The Trap of Borrowed Dreams

Borrowed dreams don’t show up all at once. They build slowly.

You see someone share their routine, their income goal, or their lifestyle, and it plants a seed. At first it’s just inspiration. But over time it turns into a benchmark. Without realizing it, you start shaping your own goals around theirs.

The problem isn’t admiration. The problem is taking someone else’s vision and mistaking it for your own.

That’s how you end up chasing things that look right on paper but feel hollow in practice:

• A career path you thought would impress people.

• A financial milestone that doesn’t change your day-to-day life.

• A lifestyle that looks exciting in photos but doesn’t match how you want to spend your time.

The trap is subtle because it feels like ambition. You’re still moving. You’re still chasing. But instead of climbing your own mountain, you’re climbing someone else’s.

And when you get to the top, the view doesn’t feel like a win. It feels like a mistake.

Signs You’re Living Someone Else’s Plan

It’s not always obvious when you’ve slipped into chasing borrowed dreams. On the surface, everything looks like progress. The giveaway is how those goals make you feel.

Here are a few signs:

If any of these feel uncomfortably familiar, it’s worth asking whether the life you’re chasing is really yours, or just something you picked up by watching others.

The Cost of Borrowed Dreams

Borrowed dreams don’t just waste time. They drain energy, money, and focus that could have gone into building the life you actually want.

The cost shows up in different ways:

• Time: You can spend years climbing a ladder that doesn’t lead anywhere you care about. Those years don’t come back.

• Money: You invest in programs, courses, or lifestyles meant for someone else’s path. By the time you realize it, you’ve spent thousands chasing a version of success that doesn’t fit.

• Energy: Every step forward feels heavier than it should, because you’re carrying a vision that doesn’t belong to you. Even “wins” feel like work without reward.

• Clarity: The longer you chase someone else’s goals, the harder it becomes to see your own. Comparison starts to blur what actually matters to you.

The harsh truth is this: reaching the wrong destination can hurt more than failing. At least failure teaches you something. Borrowed success just leaves you with regret.

Building Real Dreams

The cure for borrowed dreams isn’t more ambition. It’s clarity. You need a way to separate what belongs to you from what you picked up through comparison.

Start with a simple audit. Write down your main goals right now. Then ask yourself three questions:

1. Where did this goal come from?
   If the only reason it’s on your list is because you saw it online, it’s not yours.

2. Would I still want this if nobody knew I achieved it?
   If the goal only excites you when you imagine posting about it, it’s probably borrowed.

3. Does this match how I want to live day to day?
   It’s easy to want the outcomes. Money, recognition, lifestyle. But the real test is whether you want the process behind them.

Once you strip away the borrowed goals, what’s left is yours.

Those goals don’t always look as flashy, but they feel right. They give you energy instead of draining it. They create momentum because you’re not forcing yourself into someone else’s lane.

Real dreams are the ones that make sense even when nobody is watching. That’s the direction worth building in.

Today’s Move

Take ten minutes and write down three goals you’re chasing right now.

Next to each one, answer two questions:

• Would I still want this if nobody else knew about it?

• Does the path to this goal actually match how I want to live?

If the answer is no, cross it out.

Circle the one that still excites you on its own. That’s the goal worth keeping.

Closing Thought

Borrowed dreams can look impressive. They can even win you praise. But they will never feel like a real victory.

Chasing someone else’s path only leaves you empty, no matter how far you climb.

The progress that matters isn’t the kind you can post. It’s the kind that builds a life you actually want to live.

Choose goals that belong to you. That’s where fulfillment begins.

P.S Let me know if you enjoy these types of more visual newsletter designs and any other suggestions you might have to improve the quality of the reading experience.

Talk again soon,

Alex, Founder of The Capital Circle & Opulenco