Our Stories

DO (YOUR) DREAM

May 8, 2017

“He was remembering the dream–

the real–real dream.”

The Secret Garden

What is your REAL-REAL DREAM?

When I was 10 years old, my DREAM was to sing and be discovered by Michael Jackson himself. I would give a concert every night in the shower, belting out the latest and greatest from Whitney Houston at the top of my little lungs. I was convinced, that my mother, upon hearing these nightly concerts, had stashed a tape recorder in the air vent in the bathroom to capture her talented daughters voice. I just KNEW that she had plans to mail these secret recordings to Michael Jackson…who would then ask me immediately to be one of his backup singers.

Sadly, my mother was unaware of my nightly concerts, and so it never occurred to her to hide the tape recorder in the air vent (nor would it have ever occurred to her to stash anything in an air vent), and thus…Michael never called, and my dream of singing faded away like the moonwalk.

I giggle to myself now thinking about the absurdity of my childish notion that everyone around me would just make my dream happen, that my mother…and Michael of course would bend over backwards to make me a star, while I just sang in the steam filled shower night after night into my shampoo bottle.

Seriously? How can I expect someone else to be working on my dream…if I am not?

UGH! Here comes my Truth:

There is a part of me, that is back in that shower..singing my heart out. But this time, my concerts are held in the local coffee shop, my microphone is my computer, and my voice is this blog.

My current dream….my real-real DREAM…is to write a book. And after a year of blogging my heart out here on these pages…I too have been DREAMING that:

  •  A big publisher (specifically FHB’s main publisher) would stumble down a rabbit hole online and come across my words…and discover me.
  •  Or that a friend of a friend would send one of my blogs to their friend who is a literary agent….and they would sign me on the spot!
  • Or perhaps one of my blogs or posts would go viral…gaining the attention of someone important who would proclaim me a genius with words and sign me to a 6 book deal…and ask me to guest host with Kelly Ripa or Ellen Degeneres. (hey…it’s my dream…don’t judge)

Are you expecting others to dig up your gifts and make your dreams happen for you too?

Are you convinced that the only way your dream could come true…is if somehow it just “happened?

To keep myself from doing the actual work of writing the book…I have told myself several lies:

If it is meant to be, it is meant to be.   I want this to be organic, not forced.  

But I think these lies, and all the others I have told myself over the years, were just internal stall tactics fueled by fear: Fear of Failure, Fear of Success….and Fear of the HARD WORK Ahead.

Because…”Dreams Don’t Work Unless You Do.” -John C. Maxwell

Let me rephrase that…MY DREAMS don’t work, unless I DO. And guess what…YOUR DREAMS won’t work…unless YOU DO.

Who is ready to stop relying on others to make their dreams happen and GET TO WORK?

Last week, I said “I DO” to my real-real dream. I proclaimed it publicly on social media and to friends and family alike…that I am starting the WORK of writing MY BOOK!

I will DO my real-real Dream because: 

“Life is too short to not do the GOOD THINGS that GOD has put on your (my) HEART.” -Laura Casey, Make It Happen

ARE YOU READY TO DO (YOUR) DREAM?

Dreaming in Action Verbs,

FHB and Especially Me

P.S. If you do know a friend of a friend who is in the business…and you want to help them discover me…that would be awesome too. 🙂  I will keep doing the real work in the meantime.