Dream BIG

An organization called Plywood People are gracious enough to let me contribute on their blog. I wrote this post for them last week. Hope you enjoy!

“You can either accept the reality as it is or create it as you wish it to be. This is the essence of dreaming—and thinking big.”

-Michael Hyatt, Platform

When I was a little girl, I would run around my backyard freckle-faced and sun burned burying things. I would bury my prized possessions; new birthday gifts, jewelry boxes, and anything I dubbed as ‘treasure worthy.’ Promptly after burying my jems, my brother and I would rush inside out of the Georgia summer heat and draw up a treasure map. We would always start near the patio furniture, circle around mom’s flowerbeds, and land ‘where X marks the spot.’ We would dig up whatever we had buried, jump up and down and act like pirates who just struck gold. Every time it was a victorious moment.

You see, I lived in the suburbs of Atlanta; a sort of corralling of identical houses that sprang out of the eighties. I rode the yellow bus to school, went to the grocery store with my mom, and was in bed by 8:30 sharp. Our two story, white picket fence home didn’t leave much room for the imagination, so I had to create my own reality, as I wished it to be.

My closets suddenly became little Narnian realms, the air-conditioning vents were portals for my toys, and the master bathroom suddenly became a witch’s castle. Sadly, I am not exaggerating. Looking back at those times, I have to say I am thankful for not only for my imagination, but also the willingness to make that imagination my reality.

So often I talk to adults who tell me all of the things they ‘wish they were doing’ or ‘ought to be learning’ or ‘hope to do one day.’ It has always been such an enigma to me as to why bills, appointments, and day-to-day frivolities get in the way of our dreams. But, for a lot of us, (myself included) the calendar, alarm clock, or commute wins over our dreams.

I have never heard it so eloquently and sensibly stated as to when I read the quote above in Michael Hyatt’s newest book, Platform. He was talking about thinking big (no BIGGER!) and writing down your dreams and all of the possibilities that come with them. He dismissively states to ‘ignore the mocking little voice that tells you to be more realistic,’ and to start thinking big. The minute I read that I knew it was be wisdom I wanted to hold onto throughout my adult life.

My purpose in taking you down memory lane into my childhood is to encourage you with there is always a place to start. No matter if you are a barista, financial advisor, or mom-of-four, your reality is what you make it. You have a little bit of control over what you do with your life. For myself, I seek wisdom from the Lord and his roadmap for my journey, and so far it’s been nothing less than exciting and ever changing. You never know what ‘reality’ you might stumble into when you start making them a priority.

*If you would like to purchase Michael Hyatt’s new book Platform, you can do so here.