Friday Happy Hour: Where are Your Dreams?

Begin it Now, Watercolor, Kellee Wynne Conrad

Remember those long summer days when we stayed out late playing, salty sweat staining our foreheads, dirt under our nails, and the sun kissing the backs of our necks? Not a care in sight as we lived out the many lives in our imaginary worlds.

We were mermaids, schoolhouse teachers, roller derby gang members, secret agents, pageant contestants, veterinarians, explorers and supreme leaders of our own lands. Our heads were filled with ideas for startup lemonade businesses, movies we would make one day and the people we would meet as we sailed around the world in search of lost treasure. Whatever we could dream up, we could do.

Then one day we began packing up the memorabilia of our young lives and stepped over to the world of adults. Somehow, without even noticing, all our little ideas and stories and dreams of our future self got tied up and tossed in the box along with childhood laughter and wild abandon. All those little joys were forgotten while we got so terribly busy growing up.

And here we are. Life is good. I’ve made it this far on luck and a prayer and a whole lot of hard work. I wouldn’t trade it for any of the lives I might have imagined as a child. Some of the most important goals I’ve had for my life have become a reality. But I seem to recall a box full of summer sun sitting of a shelf in the back of my mind….where did the free spirit of my childhood go and what have I done with all her dreams?

What have you done with your dreams?

What would your eight-year-old self say about you now?

Hand carved stamp, lino cut print, Kellee Wynne Conrad

I’m asking this before it’s too late. The mid-life crisis is right around the corner, just waiting for those who’ve gotten lost along the way and forgotten to live their dreams. I know some of you are doing it right now. And many more are making an effort. But I know so many more who say that you wish you were doing “x. y. z.”

And, so then I say, why aren’t you?

It’s time. I’m putting it out in the open for you to think about and when you’re ready we’re coming back to this subject. We will figure out how to follow our dreams before they pass us by!

 But I will tell you one thing is for sure - this has been the best week ever because I’m going back to the beginning and reconnecting with my hopes and dreams. Here are a few other reasons this is the best week ever:

·         I remember my favorite color is purple, I love unicorns and I want to illustrate children’s books.

·         I’ve been a hopeless romantic ever since Kindergarten. I think it’s due time to draw hearts on everything and get carried away again.

·         My siblings are my best friends no matter where I go.

·         I really do love my mom and dad and I am finally old enough to miss them and need them again.

·         Being a mom in real life is better than the game you play in your backyard on long summer days.

·         So is being a wife, by a hundred times or so.

·         I love arts and crafts time and I need it every day.

So, how about you? Do you remember your dreams yet? Are you ready to act on them? How will you make this your best week ever?

“To live a creative life, we must lose our fear of being wrong.” Joseph Chilton Pearce