Believe in the beauty of your dreams
Age is irrelevant
“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams” Eleanor Roosevelt
Saturday afternoon and I’ve just finished watching four Italian women fulfil their dream of winning the first ever women’s America’s Cup (Sailing). It was exhilarating to watch. How they get those boats to fly through the air is mesmerising. I would love to have a go!
And that took me to thinking about whether we dare to dream at any age.
Are we encouraged to own and pursue our dreams throughout our lives or are they taught out of us at an early age ie better to live a life of safety than to risk it all for our hearts?
Quite frankly this kills us because deep down we can’t escape the gnawing feeling that:-
we’ve sold out on ourselves
we’ve sold out on our true potential
we’ve sold out on our true yearnings
we’re denying our spirit within
As weird as it’ll sound, that’s good news in that that gnawing feeling never leaves us no matter how much we try to bury it.
Your true Self is inherently creative and naturally expansive so it’s not going to give you a free pass for the rest of your life.
It will keep on prodding and showing you possibilities until the day you choose to answer the call and believe in the beauty of your dreams again.
The innocence of youth
I remember being a 13yr old at school and wondering why so few kids appeared to have dreams. I was in a school for smart kids and yes they wanted to go to university etc but “real” dreams seemed rare. It felt like they were on a conveyor belt following everyone else.
I dreamed of playing sport for my country and then escaping the violence of N.Ireland to go live in Europe where people smiled at each other and weren't killing each other.
Now those weren’t outrageous dreams right? Like I wasn’t wanting to be the first female astronaut. Yet to my surprise I was often told to be sensible and to just study hard. Fortunately, my inner rebel thought “Screw that! I’m following my dreams!”
I was blessed to live both of these dreams. The sporting one several times from the age of 17-22 years old and the Europe one at 22. Ironically it was those accomplishments that got me my first jobs in banking not my university degree and they have served me on many levels to this day.
When we become prisoners of our thinking
As an adult, there have been dreams that I have denied myself or I’ve half gone after because I was frightened I’d fail or I’d be exposed as being not good enough or I’d be caste out and alone forever.
I’m sure you’ve got your own version of these? What are they?
The truth is these are examples of the stories our minds make up to keep us confined and “safe.”
They’re all unexamined assumptions that, when left unexamined and believed, stop us living our lives as a glorious adventure where we believe in the beauty of our dreams and dare to follow them.
It’s never to late to say yes to your dreams
In the summer of 2018 (aged 60) I came across rowing quite by accident. I was on google and next thing, out of nowhere, I was watching my fingers sign up for a Learn to Row course much to my surprise as that wasn’t at all what I’d been googling.
Grace works in mysterious ways.
For a long time my heart had yearned to be part of an elite team again. I missed the camaraderie and the excelling together.
A new dream was emerging….
I joined Reading Rowing Club and found being on the river watching sunrises and sunsets to be magical. The six days per week training regime much less so!
The dream was to row in the World Masters Rowing Championships - next one was in Budapest 2019. I managed to be selected for a couple of crews.
This is Kathy and me doing a bit of shopping in between races.
Returning to Innocence - A new “business” dream at 66:
I’ve a new dream now of creating an amazing community for high sensory professional women. Women need community to thrive and high sensory women even more so.
I totally believe in the beauty of this dream.
I have absolutely no idea how to do this…..yet.
What I do know is that if I listen to my mind I’ll get freaked out and try to bury it. Or I’can choose to go into innocence, into not knowing and listen deeply to the whisper of my heart and soul.
In pursuing any dream our only requirement is to do this deep inner listening and to follow it’s guidance by taking one step at a time and only then will the next step be revealed.
That’s what I must stay true to and it’s potential vs getting caught up in little me syndrome.
As Deepak Chopra once said (I’m paraphrasing) - Inherent within every dream are the ingredients for its success.
My invitation to you
So if “The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams” - will you believe in the beauty of your dreams?
Which ones?
When?
What will it give you to follow your dreams beyond the dream itself?
Who will you be becoming in pursuit of your dreams?
Can you imagine how fun, uplifting and powerful it would be if we all championed each other in going after our dreams?
Age is irrelevant!
Thank you so much for your words