What are your frozen dreams? In other words, what would you attempt if you knew you couldn’t fail? Pretty deep stuff, huh? I’m going through the book “One Month to Live: 30 Days to a No Regrets Life” and today’s chapter is all about thawing out our frozen dreams. It has so many great things to say…here are a few excerpts:
- A dream is something that calls to us, something that may seem impossible or crazy but tastes sweeter and more fulfilling than we ever could have imagine.
- It doesn’t take long for the blizzards of life to freeze our dreams. Everyday life has a way of wearing down the dreams of our youth and deflating the hope of seeing them come to pass. We get frostbitten by the bitter cold of disappointment, delay, and deferment. Instead of dreaming big and believing that God can accomplish great things through us, we go into survival mode and put our dreams on ice.
- Many people have no idea what their dreams are and what they really want in life. Don’t you feel this way at time? Maybe when your job is getting you down you wonder if you’ve completely missed your calling. Maybe when a relationship falls apart or when circumstances make you question if you’re in the right place. Maybe when you’re just bored and going through another mundane daily routine. During these moments we tend to forget what our true desires and dreams are because they get buried under an avalanche of pain.
I would venture to believe we’ve all had thoughts like these. I know I have. It’s often in the moments when the busyness slows down and I actually have time to contemplate my life that I start questioning things about it. The sad thing is that I stay so busy I barely have time to sit and wonder if I’m enjoying all the things that are keeping me so busy.
Currently how connected do you feel to your dreams? Does your day-to-day life reflect an active pursuit of your dreams? What prevents you from such a pursuit?
Hmm, I would have to say that I don’t feel very connected to my dreams. In fact, I’m not even sure I remember my dreams. I used to want to be a pediatrician but then decided if I was going to have a family and be a mom that much school was just unrealistic for me. Then I decided that nursing might be a shorter more obtainable option for helping people and I’m certain the medical side of helping people grew out of my dad being an ER doc. I finally threw in the towel for any possible nursing career when I came to the conclusion that the nurses dealt with far more of the 3 P’s than I wanted to deal with. What are the 3 P’s you ask? That would be the Puke, Puss, and Poop cleanup that I wanted nothing to do with. I eventually moved onto the counseling and psychology side of helping people. I do have my undergrad degree in counseling and hope some day to finish my Master’s degree in Marriage & Family Therapy, but I don’t currently have a passionate desire to go after that dream. It would just be nice at this point because I wouldn’t pursue a career in therapy while I’m trying to homeschool and raise my kids.
Another dream I have is to do something with Sign Language. When I was twelve years old I took my first signing class with my mom at our church but I think I’ve always been fascinated about it. I’m not even sure what it is but when I talk to other people about my desire to become fluent in American Sign Language (ASL), my heart races and I often start getting teary when I’m talking about it. I’m mostly self-taught with the exception of a couple short classes so I’m no where near as fluent as I’d like to be. But every week when I’m at church listening to the music I sign the songs in my head. Every week. What gets me overthinking and analyzing my dream are thoughts like: What’s the point in pursuing ASL because I don’t know ANY deaf people? Sure I could learn songs and sign them during worship because it’s a beautiful expression of music and emotion but is that a good enough reason? Does that make it more about me liking ASL cause it’s neat or because I think I’ll be able to just be ready on the off chance I run into a deaf person? But regardless of the reason or the purpose of that dream I’m not currently pursuing it. So like any language, if you don’t use it…you lose it and I hate that!
The only dream that I do feel like I’m pursuing actively is to be a stay-at-home mom raising a happy family. I wish I didn’t have the work schedule that I do and I wish my husband didn’t work as much as he does. There are other things I would like us to be doing better at or doing more of but I am totally blessed to have three great kids and a husband that I’m confident loves me like the queen I am. (Just teasing.) 
So what do you do with those frozen dreams? How do you identify which dreams are the ones worth fighting for? I’ll be talking more about Thawing Out Your Frozen Dreams coming soon but I’d love to hear about your dreams. What dreams have you put on ice? What would you attempt if you knew you couldn’t fail?
