Don’t Wait to Live Your Dreams: Do It Now!
If you have a dream in your heart that you’ve always wanted to fulfill, don’t put it off. Look for ways to fulfill that dream now.
BLURB
Welcome to the 70th post of The Aim and Soar Life, a weekly newsletter about faith, personal growth, and lifestyle that provides actionable, relatable, and biblically rooted content to help you live abundantly and GROW YOU. GOD’S WAY.
Greetings Fam!
We are rocking July with our theme: Beyond Your Best Life! It’s all about learning, stretching, and growing.
I plan to retire soon, so I’ve been doing a lot of reading about how to prepare for retirement— beyond just my finances. When most of us think about retirement, we tend to focus more on what our financial lives will look like when we stop working, rather than focusing on what our lives will look like holistically.
Don’t get me wrong, money is important. However, living well and living in the moment is even more important.
I’m not talking about being reckless with no regard for tomorrow. That would be unwise. I’m talking about taking the time to enjoy the time you have right now to really live. The phrase, “Stop and smell the roses,” is an admonition to not get so caught up with the big things in life, that you don’t appreciate the small, more meaningful things.
I don’t know about you, but I can get so preoccupied with the future or something I did wrong in the past, that I don’t remain in the present.
During my retirement research, I came across articles about people who regretted not retiring earlier or not living their dreams before retirement because now that they had retired and were older, challenges prevented them from doing many of the things they had dreamed of doing in retirement—things they had planned to do all their lives.
That is heartbreaking.
The remedy for that kind of regret is to do it now!
If you have a dream in your heart that you’ve always wanted to fulfill, don’t put it off. Look for ways to fulfill that dream now.
If money is a barrier, think of creative ways you could do some adjusting to your budget to accommodate your dream.
For instance, if you’ve always wanted to go on an African Safari and the price tag seems to be out of reach, look for a side hustle or have an estate sale.
A lot of people wait until they retire to downsize their homes, but if you are like me and close to retirement, it may be a possibility for you to downsize now and use your extra cash to fulfill a dream.
Some of us save and save for retirement. But like the people I read about, we don’t know what will happen when we get to retirement—or if we will live to see retirement.
It’s wise to live our dreams now, while we have the opportunity.
This is not a new concept, because Solomon taught us that tomorrow isn't promised to any of us.
27 Do not boast about tomorrow,
for you do not know what a day may bring.Proverbs 27:1, NIV
Kickstart fulfilling your dreams now by doing the following things:
1. Make a List of your dreams.
Making a list will help you to solidify your thoughts. This can serve as a visualization exercise as well. Take it a step further and create a vision board. A vision board is a pictorial representation of your goals. It provides you with something to view daily so that you stay focused and inspired. Say “yes” to following your dreams.
2. Prioritize your dreams
Organize your thoughts. Place the most important ones at the top of your list. When you give your dreams a number, with the most important one being first, you can focus all your efforts and resources properly without being fragmented.
3. Develop a plan to implement your dream
The plan to live your dreams now is just as important as the dreams themselves. Proper execution of your plan will ensure that you will achieve your dreams. How will you implement your plan? Be specific. If your dream requires additional cash or a side hustle, write something like, “I will earn an extra $400 per month by working a weekend shift once a month. This money will go toward my Paris fund.” Ahem. That’s my mom’s dream. Paris. And I’m going to make it happen for her. Your plan will be the blueprint you follow. Seek help from a trusted friend or accountability partner if necessary.
4. Commit to follow thru with your plan.
Nothing much to see here folks.
Stick. To. The. Plan.
Life does happen to all of us. But with a plan in place, it’s easier to get back on track if something knocks you off your square. Dig in and commit to yourself.
5. Give yourself a timeline.
Any good goal has a timeline. This gives you a goal completion reference point. You are not sacrificing and making adjustments for no reason. You are executing your plan with an end in mind. I’d like to be brave and suggest that you give your number one dream a maximum of 36 months, or three years (I have this timeline for myself). This will help you to put some hustle in your step! If you can achieve it more quickly, by all means, do it!
Hardly anything is impossible. And nothing is impossible with God.
Live in the moment. Live your dreams right now. Don’t wait.
Peace and Love
Until Next Time,
GROW YOU. GOD’S WAY.
Sherrhonda😍
P.S.
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