Don’t Let Your Dreams Die!

We’re just thinking out loud here…

There is often this sense that we should be satisfied with “life” as it is.  The bills are paid.  The family is reasonably healthy.  Our lives are relatively drama free.  On the other hand, there is this competing nagging sense that there can be more to our lives.  Without being able to articulate it, we feel as though we are settling.  Our settled, hassle-free lives now borders on mediocrity and threatens the very stability that has brought us comfort.  It’s time to expand our borders.  It’s time to acknowledge our dreams!

It is healthy to want our lives to be dynamic, organic…growing.  While contentment is an awesome mental disposition and healthy, there is a fine line between contentment and minimalism.

We have a very normal and healthy NEED to expand borders, pursue unrealized dreams and set objectives for the future to give us (and our family) something tangible to pursue.  That’s not a bad thing.  Some of us are more ambitious than others.  And one spouse may be risk averse, more prone to wanting to safely maintain the status quo and reject change.  You will want to start a business.  They will see it as a threat to the family’s financial future.  You will want to take some classes at the local community college.  They will see it as a threat to the well healed family schedule.  You may want to become more social, maybe go out with other couples.  They will see it as your dissatisfaction with them.

The challenge seems to be our ability to communicate that our desire for change is really a manifestation that we are growing or maturing.  The manner in which we communicate our needs may set the stage for the degree to which a less inspired or motivated spouse will respond to and support us.  When faced with the argument of how our dreams and goals threaten today’s stability, we are to make the case that goals and plans are made today, based on today’s resources, and with a proviso that as our circumstances and access to resources  change…so might our plans…and maybe even our objectives.  Unfulfilled dreams are often victim to deferring until tomorrow what needed to be planned for today!

We are frustrated, perhaps, because we feel as though your dreams will die?  Don’t let them.  Sketch out objectives and discuss them with your spouse.  Talk about the specifics of what you see and how you see you getting there.  Then, ask what specifically about your situation must change before the objectives and plans can be adopted as a family.

This means specifying what bills need to be paid down to what point, what time sacrifices may be required and what support is needed.  Now you better have a sense of at what point dreams become objectives to which you begin to attach resources (time, money, energy, etc.).

Don’t let your dreams die!