Don't Limit Your Dreams

Photo by Dayne Topkin on Unsplash

When I was in college, I had this dream. I wanted to be a writer or a journalist and live in a city above a storefront. I wanted to be able to write in coffee shops and meet cool people. It was an idle dream because I didn't think it would ever happen; nonetheless, it was my dream and it made me happy just thinking about it.

We lived in Seattle for about two years before I looked up from my day to day scramble and remembered this dream from another lifetime. Here I was living in the heart of Seattle, a pretty big city by anyone's standards, and finally realized this is exactly where I want to be.

I write in coffee shops and know some pretty cool people. We didn't live over a storefront, but we did live in an apartment right across from a park that stretched along the Puget Sound. I didn't even know to wish for that part of it. Additionally, the bar on the corner was a hot spot for locals and had some pretty good pizza to boot.

It makes me think that we spend so much time wishing and hoping for things to happen, and then when they do, we don't appreciate it. Sometimes, we don't even notice.

My dream of living and writing in the city came from a different life than I ended up living. I thought that I would be single and move to New York. Once I met my husband and we settled down to have kids, I put those silly dreams away.

Only to find out, that even when circumstances change, there is something inside of us that still yearns for that simple dream. I had put limits on my dream so I no longer believed it could come true. Instead, it was I was married with a daughter that we moved to Seattle. Turns out, there is no time limit on dreams, nor is there only one way for them to come true.

I was so busy looking at my current dream of publishing a novel that I forgot the dream that got me here. To live and write in the city is a wonderful experience. I am thankful that I finally looked up to appreciate it. Now I will always know that my dreams can come true - because many already have.

You are never to old to dream. You are never to late to start something new. Time keeps moving forward whether you are ready or not. Don't close yourself off to new opportunities or fresh ideas.

Take some time to think about the dreams you have had in the past. Does anything you thought you wanted look familiar around you? Don't stop at the obvious, but the subtle as well.

Think about the dreams you have now. How can you bring those dreams alive around you?