I woke from sleep thinking, “I am going to take flying lessons.” I am 63 and remember idolizing a TV character of my youth, Sky King. He owned a ranch so large he had to use a plane to get around.
This fantasy worked its way into my planning for college. I wanted to be a pilot and could pick a path in college to be an Aeronautical Engineer or attend Annapolis to become a naval aviator because landing jets on an aircraft carrier would be cool.
Neither option panned out.
My application to school for Aeronautical Engineering was rejected and I never did the groundwork to become a candidate for the Naval Academy. What survived over the years was my fascination for flying. Every so often I would gather cost information for lessons and every time reasoned it was too much money to spend. This fantasy never transitioned into my reality because I would resolve to do it later. I’d say, “Not now, because …” and the reasons included buying a house, raising a family, paying for college, starting and building my business. It’s always something.
Somewhere in my sleep on this night, I called myself on the game I had been playing. I recognized it’s now – or possibly never – since the future is not guaranteed. So, I have no more excuses, I am going to take flying lessons.
What childhood dream or fantasy has hung around for you?
Which of these three topics is more interesting to you and (probably) your friends: To hear about the work you are doing because of your responsibilities, the dream you wish you had done or will do some day, or the dream you are bringing alive today?
I hope you realize it’s the latter. What would it feel like to bring your dream alive today? How would this affect your current routine?
So, here are some more questions:
- What is the dream you have been pushing to the future?
- What will it feel like to live this dream?
- What is the obstacle stopping you from making this dream real?
- What would it take to remove that obstacle?
- Why not start working to have that dream become reality today?
Like myself, you may always have a reason why your idea will not work at the moment. Gather enough reasons for ‘why not’ and you’ll quickly lose any reason to fantasize about what could be. We settle into what is, watching our energy and enthusiasm for life erode as anxiety and stress grow.
Dreaming is a practice and an exploration. Both can contribute to our joy and wonderment of life.
Coaching is a resource to help recover this passion for life and bring dreams out of our imaginations and into our realities.
