What Happened to That Dream?

Remember when you were a child and you had dreams of becoming a fire fighter or maybe a doctor, an astronaut or even a business owner? Maybe your dream was to travel the world and see the sights of Rome, Africa or Alaska. At one time, I had a dream to be a race car driver, which later turned into being a stunt man. Those dreams, when we were in our younger years, seemed fairly obtainable didn’t they? No one told us we couldn’t do this, that or the other. No one even told us that it was going to be hard to go after that dream. We just kept visualizing in our minds over and over again how it would be, what our life would be like. We visualized what it would be like to be in that moment, living our dream and actually doing what we pictured ourselves doing. Can you remember this? Remember how you felt? If you look deep enough, it’s still there, probably buried down deep under a mountain of stuff, but I assure you, it’s there.

Whatever happened to us chasing those dreams? How did they become so buried? In nearly every conversation I have had with someone who has followed their dreams, somewhere in the conversation they have always added that they never stopped thinking about their dream and never stopped believing they could have it, regardless of their age. Could it be then, that the rest of us have let life take over and get in the way? Stop for a moment and ask yourself, “What happened to those dreams I had as a kid?”

As an adult, I believe those dreams we had as children were not an accident, a coincidence or a bleep in our imaginations. You and I have the ability to dream, believe and create things from virtually nothing. We were given this from the ultimate creator, God Himself. Not only have we been given this gift, we have also been given the necessary tools to follow through with our dreams. For thousands of years people have done this, from the Bible to history books to successful people like Bill Gates. It all starts with a dream, the vision of what we want to achieve. I have heard it said that everything in this world has been created twice. The first time, in someone’s mind and then in its physical form. All of it started with a dream.

As we grow, we also dream new dreams. Maybe they are dreams with a deeper meaning, focused on helping people. As we mature, often times our dreams mature along with us. Now that I am 41 I no longer have a dream to be a race car driver or a stunt man. However, I still have dreams and the further down the path of life and maturity I go, the larger my dreams have become.

So, I want to ask you: What is your dream? What is inside of you that has been sticking around and will not go away? Have you buried it? If so, it may require you to search inside and pull your dream out, dust it off and spend a little time with it. I believe the dream is there. On some level each one of us, regardless of who we are, carry a song in our heart and a dream to entertain. For some, it raises its head up once in awhile and says, “Hey, remember me?” Your dream… it is still there… can you see it?

I once was being counseled by a very wise mentor of mine who posed this question, “Scott, if it is God that plants dreams within us and we choose not to follow those dreams, could we be missing the blessing and the calling He has upon our life?” Needless to say, his question got me thinking.

Dreams give us a focus, a direction, something to help give life meaning and purpose. You may have a dream to be the best mother or the best father possible and through that, give your kids every possible tool to become all they can be. Or, you may have a dream to open up a community center offering a place for kids to play sports and games, or for families to participate in activities together. Regardless of what it is, or how big or how small it is, it is your dream and it takes the same amount of time and energy to dream a small dream as it does a big dream. Nurture it, protect it and believe in it because if it were not obtainable or even worthwhile… it would have never become your dream.

Have a great Friday everyone and be blessed.


Scott Stewart
Author, Speaker and Inspiring others to a life of greatness.
scott@lovelossandgrowth.co.