What do we mean by “launching your dreams into action”? Why do we use that particular phrasing?
Dreams. What are they?
Dreams
- 1: a series of thoughts, images, or emotions occurring during sleep
- 2: an experience of waking life having the characteristics of a dream: asa: a visionary creation of the imagination :daydreamb: a state of mind marked by abstraction or release from reality :reveriec: an object seen in a dreamlike state :vision
- 3: something notable for its beauty, excellence, or enjoyable quality <the new car is a dream to operate>
- 4a: a strongly desired goal or purpose <a dream of becoming president>
4b: something that fully satisfies a wish :ideal<a meal that was a gourmet’s dream>
(http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Dreams)
Let’s look at definitions 3 and 4. #3: “Something notable for its beauty, excellence, or enjoyable quality” – we’ll come back to that one in a moment. #4: “a strongly desired goal or purpose” or even “something that fully satisfies a wish”.
Some dreams are never realized, never fulfilled. Sometimes that’s by personal choice and taking a different, sometimes opposite path. Sometimes, it’s by natural consequences of a personal choice that we made, believing we were following the dream. And sometimes, it’s a dramatic or otherwise life-changing event. When someone faces a crisis, it is entirely possible that the individual feels lost, alone, stuck, stationary (going nowhere fast), hopeless, directionless, downhearted, dejected, irredeemable, depressed, a failure, or whichever term resonates with your own feelings in the midst of a crisis. Let’s look at the term “crisis” for a moment.
Crisis – noun. Plural: crises<
1. a stage in a sequence of events at which the trend of all future events, especially for better or for worse, isdetermined; turning point.
2. a condition of instability or danger, as in social, economic, political, or international affairs, leading to adecisive change.
3. a dramatic emotional or circumstantial upheaval in a person’s life.
(http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/crisis)
So we see that a crisis is a turning point, a condition of instability or danger, and that it affects individuals – separate from a whole. Is it possible for an entire community or people group to experience a crisis? Absolutely. We want to look at the individual, or even the individual family group, though, at this specific moment. #3: “a dramatic emotional or circumstantial upheaval in a person’s life.”
What happens to the dreams an individual held on to at the point of crisis? Without a catalyst, those dreams are pushed aside, wither and die, or otherwise change.
A few examples:
The teenager who finds herself pregnant, alone and scared at only 17 or 18 years of age – with her entire life ahead of her, a bright and promising future, she must now reconsider her chosen path. If she chooses to keep her baby and parent, she must face decisions of child care, finances, school for her child, food, clothing, shelter – all of these things. Her “bright future” now changes. Do her dreams also suffer? They might. Those dreams can change severely and die, change slightly, be put on hold entirely, or even be put on hold and readdressed at a later time. Why must her dreams die?
The businessman who travels frequently, meets a woman and falls in love. They start a family together. In order to fully support his family, he feels he must be closer to home. His dreams of traveling the world are now on hold. As more children come, more responsibility at work and at home, and more of him missing what was once possible.
The rising star, singer, actress, entrepreneur has to return home and care for her mother and father. Her dreams of being a star, being more, are put on hold – “For the time being,” she tells herself. Those dreams never die. They’re never realized. She hides away her voice, maybe only singing in choir at church, or just around the house. Her parents are aged, and die, and her voice has gone unused for decades. She’ll never be what she once was. That’s okay. There are other ways for her dreams to change, to grow, to be fulfilled.
So what do we mean by launching your dreams into action?
We here at LYDIA, Inc. want to help you realize the possibilities of those dreams, the dreams that don’t have to die, and we want to help you see those dreams come to fruition in actionable steps.
What stops you? What holds you back? Is the dream completely dead? How has or how can the dream change, grow, or be different yet the same? What would bring you the same satisfaction as those previous dreams or goals? What are your desires now? How do we get you from “stuck” to “unstuck”?
We want to help you through the crisis, through the loss, through the feelings stirred by your current crisis, and to the other side where your dreams may just become a reality. And this is brings us back to Dream’s #3 definition: “something notable for its beauty, excellence, or enjoyable quality”. It’s okay to want to dream, to dream big, to dream small and to have those dreams change over time. Focus on the beauty of your dreams and let us help you launch them into action.