A Surprise Dream Come True
I will preach again and again about the power of making that list of 100 dreams. It forces us to dig deep for what we really want and accept the dreams we wouldn't normally add because we don't feel like they are "meaningful" enough to go on a list. It also keeps our eyes open to take advantage of a dream come true when the opportunity presents itself.
The reality is that we can really only focus on achieving one dream at a time, especially the big, long-term ones. My dreams of publishing a book, getting on a speaker circuit, and creating a program that helps military spouses all link together because, in many ways, at least at the beginning, the work to achieve all three looks the same.
There are certainly times when we can handle multiple dreams at once, but being able to put in effective, consistent work on our big dreams usually requires exclusive focus. But we have to know what our other dreams are so that we can simultaneously achieve things. Plus, the law of attraction is definitely a thing; at least, it is in my life.
The law of attraction states that energy precedes manifestation. It means that things like positive thoughts bring about positive things, and negative thoughts bring about negative things. Thinking about your dreams is no substitute for working on them, and generally speaking, just thinking about them won't bring them to life, but it might bring you the opportunity to do just that.
I've had just that opportunity this week. Since 2021, I have wanted to meet Sheila Wray Gregoire and her team after they wrote the book The Great Sex Rescue, which changed my life. If you know me in real life, then you know that I don't shut up about this book. I am a subscriber at the top level to her Patreon, a faithful listener and reader of everything she puts out, and generally just in awe of this woman who has done so much healing work in my life.
You may remember that one of the 12 goals I prioritized this year was meeting her. She lives in Canada, and since I am going to a wedding there in September, I planned to pop over and shoot my shot at treating her to a cup of tea. It may or may not be a long shot, and she does live in a very different part of Canada than the one I will be visiting, so it would require an additional flight. But I put the dream out there, and something amazing happened Tuesday.
Earlier this week, Sheila and her team announced that they would be going on a cruise next February. They extended the invitation to their Patreons to join them. It didn't take any more than a "that sounds fun" from my husband for me to put down the deposit. We have plenty of savings to cover the deposit for the cruise, and this feels like such a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that I cannot turn it down. The verdict is still out on whether or not we'll bring our son, or even if my husband can go, since planning a vacation one year out doesn't always work well with the military agenda.
While we technically have enough in savings today to cover the trip's overall cost, which is due in November, it would require us to dip that account below a level that I am comfortable with. I like to keep a reasonably substantial cushion to cover closing costs for our next PCS, even though that is a few years away (hopefully).
The deposit is refundable up until that November payment. Still, I am committed to this dream and will not walk away from it, barring any crazy military curveballs. I put this dream out into the world and was given an opportunity to make it come true. It may not be how I planned, but this is honestly better than I dreamed of. And I'm not going to let something as simple as money deter me from achieving this dream. I will figure it out.
So, put your dreams out into the world. Put out the big ones. Put out the small ones. Put out the wild, crazy, insane ones. It doesn't matter if we know how we will get there. What matters is that we put in the work we know to do and stay prepared for the opportunity to present itself. There's a leap of faith involved in that, though. When opportunity presents itself, it usually comes a step further than what we were prepared for. We have to bet on ourselves, and that's what we'll talk about on Monday.