Remember the Magic of Your Dream

It’s September already. The stores are displaying pumpkins and next it will be Christmas trees. It seems impossible that the year 2009 is three quarters of the way over. During the year I often encourage you to check back over your goal list and see if you’re where you want to be. A lot of times when the excitement has drained from our writing or we’re bored with the tedium of work and responsibilities, it’s because we’ve forgotten our dreams.

There are mortgages to pay and kids to raise and groceries to buy and dinners to prepare. Tucking away our aspirations at the expense of our personal well-being isn’t healthy. Eventually we resent the things that are “robbing” us, instead of enjoying each facet for the richness it brings. Certainly there is joy to be found in the dream of your own home and in the treasure of children, but sometimes we pause in the midst of all that busyness to wonder, “Is this all there is?” There has to be more, and we yearn to find fulfillment within ourselves. That’s most often the time to reprioritize our busy schedules.

Look at the goals you set for this year. It’s not too late to get started on something. Take time now to make a list. Sit down and write five things that you dream of doing. Divide them into categories if you like: Family, Professionally, Writing, Spiritually, or Just for Me. Now select one that you will work on before the end of the year. Make another list of the steps you will take to see that accomplishment come to pass. Now take those steps. Recapture the joy. We need to be participants in our lives, not spectators. We need to be passionate about our dreams. Sometimes simply revisiting our dreams is the kick we need to change our thinking and get us out of a rut. So dream big and dream often.