Thank you so much for coming back! Did you have fun reminiscing about your childhood yesterday? I have so many untold stories from my little kid life that swirl around my brain. Many of them are seemingly irrelevant except that they are a part of me. And that makes them awesome. hahaha.
So yesterday we did our past, the day before we did our present, so today we are going to talk about our future. Before we get started, I have a little story for you. A group of my friends went to Time Out for Women this past weekend. It is a women's conference filled with inspirational speakers and music, meant to lift and build you. One of the speakers talked about Dating Your Dreams. (Cute, no?) On the drive home, several of the women in the car admitted to one another that they don't really have any dreams.
I was instantly so sad for them. I feel like there will never be enough years for me to learn all that I want to learn. I have places I want to travel. Cultures I want to experience. Photos that I want to take. I still have colors that I want to dye my hair. I want to return to the convention circuit and teach more classes. I want to have my whole house clean at the same time. I want to ride a motorcycle. I want to live on a beach. I want to see my kids graduate from college. I want to cheer them on in the stands during high school sports. I want to hold a grandchild. I want to set my mom's hair with curlers when she is elderly. I want to outlive my gluten intolerance and eat bread in Paris. I want to shuffle down a boardwalk with my husband when we are old and grey. I want to sew my grandchildren baby blankets and baptism dresses. I want to read more. Memorize more poetry. I want to be a better version of myself. I want to listen to my children give talks in church and learn more about them. I want to be a mother in law. I want to help people turn their lives around. I want to help make my friends laugh. I want to fill my home with treasures that have stories and meaning. I want to read every last book that Alice Hoffman writes. I want to see Sarah McLachlan on tour every time she chooses to hit the road. I want so many things. I dream of my life becoming more peaceful and more spiritual and more colorful. And then I try to make it so. I cannot imagine how I would get out of bed to face the tedium of my life if I didn't have something to look forward to.
I have a feeling that we scrapbookers are a dreaming kind of people. Perhaps our efforts to notice our lives for what they are helps us to want to do more with the life that lies ahead. Perhaps the work we do to increase our creativity also inspires our imaginations. I do know that we are a lovely kind of people!
Today, our challenge is to set a timer, and for three minutes make a list of everything you think you might want to do in the next 5 years, 10 years, or just as many years as you will be offered. Forget the punctuation and the full sentences if it helps you feel more free. Forget what you should want, and write what you do want. Write realistic things. And pipe dream things. Little things, big things, and all sorts of in between things.
And when you have your list, find a photo of you, or of something that represents your list of dreams, and let's make a page. A pretty one if you want. Or an artistic one. Or a mysterious one. Whatever best represents your list.
I hope that you will make a list. Really. And if you feel in a bit of a rut, and think you mightn't have any dreams left, pick one tiny thing. Just one. And then do something to make it happen. I would pick something to learn, but perhaps you would pick something to do. It doesn't matter. But having dreams does. Dreams are hope. Dreams are why little girls fight to learn to read in countries that tell them they shouldn't. Dreams get us to pick up paintbrushes, walk on airplanes, and say yes to bended knees. Dreams are a vehicle for us to change and grow. When we look for dreams, we can see things not yet accomplished. Not yet experienced. Not yet felt. It awakens in us a yearning for more. Which then leads us to more. More doesn't mean bigger and better, but richer and deeper. If something or someone has told you you don't deserve to dream any more, I hope and pray that you will know you do.
Thank you for stopping by today. I hope that you feel inspired to create and to dream and to become your most authentic self. I can't wait to see your pages and read about your dreams. Please let me know if you make one. Tomorrow is launch day-- see you then!
