Several years ago I read Off The Front Foot, a book by Mark Inglis, a New Zealander and Search & Rescue Mountaineer, who lost both legs below the knees to frostbite on Mount Cook. He later went on to achieve his boyhood dream of summiting Mount Everest. He talks of not wasting your dreams, but owning them and the first step towards owning your dreams is to write them down.
Shortly afterwards I created my book of dreams which is simply a little notebook with a meaningful quote on the cover. One day I lay on my bed and choose to open my mind to a world of possibilities. I then wrote down whatever popped into my head. The first entry was to complete an Ironman, the next to visit Antarctica, and do an African Safari and the list goes on.
To date I have captured hundreds of dreams. They come in all shapes and sizes...some big and others small, some scary and others exciting, some easy and others what I perceive to be "impossible".
I don't let the size, effort or my perceptions deter me. Simply, whenever I hear myself say "I would love to do that…", or a thought pops into my head, I write it down in this little notebook. Then, several times a year I take time out to review my book of dreams. I write down the date I achieved each of my dreams since the last time I opened it and I chose the new dreams I want to work towards achieving. This year I have focused on:
- Doing an African safari
- Visiting the gorillas
- Climbing Mt Ngauruhoe
- Visiting White Island
- Trying vegetarianism for a month
- Sleeping under the stars
- Flying in an A380
- Experiencing the desert
- Riding a jet ski
- and more…
I have found it is easy to get caught up in life. Often we are so busy doing, that we can forget to take time to focus on the life we want to live and the experiences we dream of having. I encourage you to start dreaming…and write those dreams down so that you can set about achieving them.
