I have dreamed of traveling the world since I was a young singleton. I have been able to travel a great deal, but not (yet) for any extended period of time. As the years continue to pass, the list of responsibilities and obligations grow exponentially with marriage, children, mortgage, community, family, and work. When I was younger and less “tied down,” I believed time was determinedly on my side. However, these days realizing my dream of extended travel seems more distant when I factor in what it would take to make it happen: financial ingenuity, homeschooling my three sons (yikes!), pet outsourcing, planning, etc… However, just this month, two friends, one dear and familiar, and one new but kindred spirit, have inspired me to dust off my travel dream and focus on how to make it a reality rather than on all the reasons that stop me. The first is my dear friend, Amy, author of the GFours travel blog, who returned from an eight month world trip with her husband and two daughters, and second, our featured Wixii, Lauren Herpich and her mission to inspire and empower through her website: Why Not Girl!
Lauren, founder and chief Why Not Girl!, shares: “Like many women, it took me a while to realize that I was in fact a Why Not Girl!. As I was approaching my 30th birthday while a graduate student at Northwestern University, I was evaluating what was making me happy and proud of who I had become. I realized that it was not material things or the prominent title at work, but the multitude of life experiences that I was so fortunate to have had. I couldn’t find one club or organization where I could share in a wide variety of adventures with other women across multiple stages of life. Everything was so compartmentalized: sports, art, food, mom, singleton. So I launched Why Not Girl! in 2012 as a website that serves to empower women to try something new and feel accomplished no matter what your age or interest.”
Though neither Amy nor Why Not Girl! has offered to plan or pay for the trip, home school my three sons on the road (yikes again!), or take a sweet golden for a long visit, together, their stories and examples have inspired and empowered me to push forward and realize there is no perfect time, so why not? now.
Just like mixing work and life, realizing dreams, whether in the realm of work or personal or to overlap between the two, requires creativity, determination, and, often, revision to get it done. I share three key actions to move forward from dream to reality:
1. Write It Down and Post It: Writing it down will help clarify your dream or goal –what it is you really want to do? Be specific. Posting it will help increase accountability. Make sure to put it somewhere prominent in your home or office so you will see it everyday. For me, I have written it on our family white board in our mudroom, which we all pass multiple times a day. It has become a conversation piece.
2. Expect to Revise: Revise your expectations based upon your current realities – money, schedule, health, work flexibility, etc…. Revisions to the dream may allow you to live some version as opposed to none at all. For our family, realities revised our dream from one 6-9 month trip to three shorter segments over several years. We are working on segment one.
3. Make a Timeline with Concrete Deliverables. Treat it like a work project – not a dream or lofty goal. This will help you to prioritize and stay focused. For us, this means working on our 2014 and 2015 schedule and budget and brainstorming creative financial solutions. Weekly, we have progress updates and give ourselves deliverables for the next week.
Do you have dreams and goals that have been buried amidst the realities of your life? Or, have you embraced the “why not?” attitude to integrate your dreams and goals into a thriving mix? Please share your experience with our community.”
