Admitting my dreams out loud has always been hard for me. Because there are lots of naysayers who will crap all over your ideas when they are vulnerable little seedlings. Nobody wants their baby seedlings to be crushed under the weight of someone’s poo-pooing!
The funny thing though, is that by hiding my dreams from other people, I tend to hide them from myself too. The little seedlings sit neglected in the attic, away from the sun, and I forget to water them. Just the fear of being shut down by others leads me to squash my own dreams before they’ve even had a chance.
Alright, so I’m facing my fears here and I’m sharing some of my dreams. In day 3 of my journaling, I mentioned that one of my dreams is to open up a community coffee house/art studio someday. Today I am going to open up about a different dream that I am actively working on, although they are related in some ways.
As I’ve mentioned before, I grew up having to stuff my emotions to help adults in my life manage theirs, and I learned to prize achievements and hard work above my own health. But along this path, I became very interested in what people call “self-help”.
I’ve read countless books over the years in this category, taken virtual classes, listened to podcasts and cds. I’m fascinated by our capacity for change. To grow up in one way, and gain knowledge and tools to live a different life.
And in all the years that I’ve been exploring these things, I continue to come face to face with one observation over and over again. To live our best life we have to get right with ourselves.
A lot of self help stuff focuses on the tools that may help us on our journey, like mindfulness, mantras, and goal-setting. And while these are great, and they can be very helpful, they are the MEANS to the end. Not the end itself.
What do I mean by that? The end goal is to be satisfied living in our own skin. To feel like we are able to face whatever comes. To be able to pick ourselves up when we fall down.
Those other things are tools to help us get there, but they are not what we’re after. Ok, so how does this relate to my dream?
I’m on this journey to love all the parts of myself because I want to have a great life with myself. I want to feel comfortable in my skin and actually like the person that I am. And I want to invite others to come with me on this journey.
I want to share what I’m learning, to learn from other people who are on the same journey, and provide a space for us to do this work together. Because I think it is the work that actually matters. The work that could change the world.
We can’t fix all of the world’s problems when we barely tolerate ourselves. Think about the energy that comes when people are actually psyched about being alive. It’s contagious!
So that is my dream. To continue on this adventure of radically loving myself and to bring as many people along with me. This is how we overcome the chaos of the world.
I don’t know the first thing about building a community, but I’m open to feedback from all of you. I’m open to hearing what you need as we embark on this journey. Let’s learn together and fall in love with all of our parts.
If you’re interested in joining me, subscribe to my free weekly newsletter, Love Your Life. I don’t have all the answers, but I believe we can figure this out together.
