When you were little and you were asked what you wanted to be; a fireman, doctor, teacher, farmer, author, President, there were no limits to what we could dream up. I've thought a lot about this lately and wondered when did we stop dreaming?
Years back, I remember telling someone how excited I was that I had a job with benefits. My exact quote was something along these lines "When I was a kid I used to dream of being an author or teacher or stay at home mom, now my dream job is just one that includes health insurance." Don't get me wrong, that is very important, but is that really my "dream" job?
So, the questions for myself are: What do I dream about? Why did I stop dreaming? What does it hurt if I start dreaming again?
I have heard a lot of people talk about how you stop dreaming because you have been hurt or not been able to see your dreams come to life. I do agree with that - I mean we all know that there are only so many times you can go out on a limb,and have that limb come crashing down - only to have our fall broken by all the other limbs on the way down - to realize that it is much safer by the trunk of the tree or even better on the ground. However, I also think we stop dreaming because we become distracted....distracted by life. We go to work, clean our house, pay our bills, and one day we wake up and realize that we have been working towards a lot of things - some of them very important - but we lost our dream. We've lost the wonder of believing that anything was possible. We've settled for the mundane.
Now, I'm not saying that you should wake up and leave all your responsibilities to go pan for gold in North Carolina because you've always dreamed you'd find the mother load, but what does your heart really desire? When the lights go down and it is just you - what do you dream about?
I think it's important to find that place again. It's important to open up my heart and dare to dream again. It's important to realize that my dream is as unique as I am and it is there for a reason. What does it hurt to dream big? What is the worst possible thing that could happen from having a dream that seems larger than I am?
I read a quote - which I absolutely LOVE - and think I might have to put on the fridge:
~If we all did the things we are capable of doing, we would literally astound ourselves~
Thomas Edison
Thomas Edison...now that's a man who knew what it was like to dream. Can you imagine if he had thought his dreams were too big to see come true? Think of how different our lives would be. That's a person who didn't wait for someone else to validate his dreams before he went for them.
So, here I am...June 5, 2011 - deciding to start dreaming. Get ready y'all because this could get good. =)
This is a beautiful, dream filled life.
