Guest Post "Doing" Your Dreams by Cindy Martinusen-Coloma

“Doing” Your Dreams

For an 8th grade graduation gift, a friend’s mother gave me this crystal rock-like paperweight that said, “What you dare to dream, dare to do!” I still have that paperweight and keep it on my desk or dresser.

My dreams have always been big -- still are -- yet I’ve discovered it’s often scary to actually DO what I dream. I’ve almost chickened out of a number of potential adventures and opportunities that turned out to be the most rewarding in my life. Traveling alone in foreign countries, meeting people outside of my comfort zone, making certain big commitments, forcing myself to write when I don’t feel like writing, speaking in front of people, addressing problems in myself and in situations…all of these and many more have been part of me “doing my dreams.”

It’s easy to stay where we’re comfortable, and it’s easy to dream big. The hard work and the fear come with actually doing our dreams and stepping out of our norms. Most people think brave people have no fear. But courage is not the absence of fear, it is going forward despite being afraid.

This quote attributed to Mark Twain says it well:
"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover."

So remember: “What you dare to dream, dare to do!”