Dream BIG! Why not?

At the end of each year, I sit down with my little man, and we evaluate our Bucket List. (Ok, Kaleb is now fifteen years old. Maybe he isn’t exactly little any longer, but even though he is a whole head taller than me, he holds that title for this mommy.) As we look over our Bucket List, we cross off things we have experienced, keep those we have yet had the opportunity to explore and add new ones that we now desire to try. It’s always an exciting challenge to try to find any possible similarities between our two lists (see image below). 

Nevertheless, going through the Bucket List process with Kaleb has taught me so much. I realized this year how no dream seems unattainable for him. If he can think it in his finite mind and he aspires to experience it, he writes it down. He will say, “Mom, I want to ____!” And without hesitation, he types it in his notes never thinking twice about any limitations, funding, geographic location, etc. I absolutely love this aspect of creating the Bucket List. It reminds me of how we must model dreaming big for our children, the students we serve, our colleagues, etc. If we can’t aim high, how do we expect them to do it? 

Dream BIG! Why not?  

Are there unfulfilled dreams on this list? Most definitely! My number one item has been there for about twenty years. However, I love what my husband said the other day, “Unfulfilled dreams should never be roadblocks for tomorrow but fuel for the future.” That’s right! Unfulfilled dreams should fuel our passion and cause us to want to wake up each morning full of hope and excitement! Darrell Martin also said, “A dreamless life is a sad life!” If you never dream, what do you do? What might you wish? How do you keep going every day? Unfulfilled dreams are still dreams. It’s not over until you either accomplish the goal or are no longer living! So, if there is breath in your body and desire in your heart, go for it! What do you have to lose? 

But, let’s not only DREAM. We must ACT! As we make our new Bucket List, Kaleb and I will each choose one “dream” we want to act on, and set a few plans in motion to accomplish them the upcoming year. This piece of the puzzle is an important one. Even if we never see the dream fulfilled, we need to go down striving to achieve it. I think Noah Geisel said it best in the #ditchsummit video this past week, “Don’t get ready. Get STARTED!” Then, he went on to say, “Sometimes, the difference between getting ready and getting started is inspiration.” 

So…

DREAM BIG! Why not?