It’s February and by now you are probably realizing that dreams are hard. It has been said that most of the goals set on New Year’s will be abandoned in six weeks. We get caught up in the moment and set ambitious goals, and by the end of January well, we wonder why we are doing this? Why do we set goals and chase dreams? This month we are going to delve into what a dream is because understanding our motivations is the best way to stay focused on the goals that matter but first, you might have one tiny, little question. What is a dream?
The romantic in me (and yes, she is hopeless) immediately tells me that we are all born to dream. Dreams are the heart of creativity and desire, the place from which we tap into something bigger than ourselves. Dreams are the things we are the most passionate about, inspiring us to reach higher and farther than we ever thought possible. Dreams live at the core of who we are, and who we can become.
The realist in me pushes back against these fanciful notions. Dreams are wild and unpredictable, the highest challenge we can face. There is no guarantee of success, no way to ward off complete failure. In other word’s dreams are hard. If you want to even attempt to chase them you need to have goals, you need to have careful planning.
Here is the thing though, both my romantic side and realistic side are correct. Two sides of the same amazing coin. When I talk about dreams here on the Dream Anvil, I am talking about unbridled and untamed imagination. I am speaking of the impossible act of taking something that was once intangible and impermanent and then dragging it, kicking and screaming, into our world. Dreams are not an idle pastime, nor do they come easily. They require passion and a serious commitment. They follow no predefined set of rules nor follow a neat and orderly path, no matter how much we plan. Dreams are messy. Dirty. Amazing. Uplifting. They are astonishingly beautiful and imperfect. Dreams are more than just the things that we desire. They are more than the goals we wish we could accomplish one day. They are the things that we dare to get up and do. Dreams seek to conquer the unconquerable. To do what was once thought impossible. Dreams live inside every single one of us, waiting to be teased out and chased.
There is a dream, a passion, at the heart of why we do what we do. To often though we do not realize this is so. For many years I went on diets for a whole host of reasons. When they flamed out I blamed myself but that doesn’t need to be the case. The reason I was able to focus and actually lose some weight as I did in 2018 was
This is why the Dream Anvil was made, to help us all achieve our goals and dreams. Our dreams are born in the fires of our passion, forged by our desires, and tempered by our skill. This month we will be checking out where our dreams come from and try to figure out what motivates us all so we can get out there and chase after our dreams!