Dreams get a bad rap, in every day life. We’re much more concerned with schedules, deadlines, and quantifiable results. Dreams are seen as whimsical realities, a dual world that only exists in the clouds.

What are the dreams you’re too scared to voice, that lie somewhere in between consciousness, subconsciousness, and unconsciousness? What are the birthday-cake-candle wishes you whisper to yourself?

I’m not saying schedules and accountability aren’t important, too- because they are. In order to make a dream a reality, you need to pair it with good old fashioned WORK. But- the core of a dream is a wild, fantastic, untamable place. And too often, we don’t explore that wilderness enough. 

We’re too scared of getting our hopes up, of picturing a future that couldn’t possibly exist. Dreams hold enormous power. When you start voicing your dreams and treating them as you would any other important project in your life, magic can happen.

Trevor and I started a dream board two years ago in DC. Like many things I scoff at first and then come to love (epsom salt baths, kefir, leaving DC) it was all Trevor’s idea. We got a bulletin board and a bunch of pins, and put up the following dreams:

• Get married
• Buy used car
• Graduate from Institute for Integrative Nutrition
• Have babies
• Pay off school bills
• Build dream house

The dream board sat there for a while. I’d tuck it under the bed when guests came, embarrassed. Afraid I had to explain my dreams to someone who wouldn’t believe in them. But then, we started accomplishing a few of those dreams. We created a “success” column and started moving pins over. And it felt good.

No, it felt amazing. It was empowering. It made me want to voice more dreams, and to be a little crazier with them. “Save 10k emergency fund,” “Get a health coach client,” “Write 100th blog post,” “Become yoga certified,” all went on the board. We’d come back to it every few months, bring a few goals over to the success column, write a few more. We added photos of dream houses, quotes about being brave and believing in ourselves.

We became more specific with our goals. We talked (and blogged!) about them with other people. I didn’t hide the dream board under the bed when guests came over. People didn’t laugh- and I started to believe that these crazy dreams could really become something tangible. That we could live in that dual world, do good work that helps others, raise happy tiny humans in a house we build in a state we love.

These dreams still scare me- as big dreams should. Every time I start really doubting them though, I check out that success column on my board, and it gives me energy. I can’t wait to look back on it in 10, 20, 50 years and see everything that we’ve accomplished, and how our dreams have evolved.

So…what are YOUR dreams? And, if you’re not ready to voice them out loud (and some people say you shouldn’t at first!), start a dream board, and see where it leads you.