It’s exciting.

To imagine all the things you can do, the places you can go, the experiences you can have, the impact you can create… how your life will feel if you achieve your dreams.

"Dream Big Dreams!" has been Obama’s go to message for little ones. Their entire future is before them and there’s nothing they can’t do.

The irony is that we believe we can do anything when we’re little when we can’t actually do very much at all. Then we slowly stop believing we can do anything as we get older when we can actually do whatever we want.

The world gets more real, the limitations more obvious, the responsibilities more tangible. We get so accustomed to the message about all the things we’re supposed to do and we forget about or stop dreaming up the things we want to do.

It’s also scary.

To think about the fears we have to face, the hurdles we have to overcome, the sacrifices we have to make, the failures that come with going for our dreams at all. Because what will that say about us if we don’t succeed?

The alternative is to not make the attempt. To keep doing what we know. To continue with what’s familiar. To stay within the safe space of the predictable where our mind and body are already comfortable.

That can be a good life if that’s what our ideal is. Happiness can be found in the familiar and the comfortable and the safe.  But what if that isn't what we want?

Growth also doesn’t often happen there. And the big dreams that are scary to pursue don’t come true there (short of sheer luck intervening).

Dreams are the ideals, the aspirations, the ambitions that drive us forward. They may or may not happen and they may or may not stay the same, but they are the fuel that powers our lives. They give us the vision of what we could do and who we could be. They help us set goals that give us targets to strive for. They’re the lifeblood of success, however we choose to define it.

If we tell kids to Dream Big Dreams! and they’re all going to grow up like us someday, maybe there should be a message that we live by that makes that advice less short-lived.

Maybe we need to tell our adult selves… Don’t Stop Dreaming!

Here's to the weekend and to Dreaming Big Dreams!

🍻🍻,

Pam