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What's on your dream list? |
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Many of us may go through life in a sort of haze, moving from work, to going home, to dinner, watching a bit of TV, then going to bed. Occasionally, we may break the routine by taking a holiday and doing something different - but we tend to lapse quickly back into our old routines when we get home again. "There must be more to life than this" crosses your mind, as you delve through credit card statements, bills, tax demands, job worries and so on.
And there is more to life than the sorts of demands on our resources listed in the last sentence - and it comes in the form of passions, interests, dreams, aspirations, a need to be appreciated, noticed for our efforts (even if we prefer to be in the background) and valued. Most of will have some things we want and long to do - even if the rest of the family think we're nuts and can't understand our passion for them. |
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You can do this alone - but you can also do some of these dreams in pairs. A couple I know once wrote down all the things they each wanted to do. When they compared lists afterwards, they were surprised to find how many things they both wanted to do - so they did them together. Each month, they picked one thing off one of their lists to try out. Some they both enjoyed, others one did more than the other. And they also agreed that every year, they should each be allowed to do one thing off their dream list that the other didn't want to do. Depending on your resources, you can make your dreams happen in a relationship.
Enter the Dream List.
What is a dream list?
A dream list consists of things you want to do before you die, or at least until life renders you unable to do them due to age or sickness. A dream list involves writing down all the things you want to do - and then finding the time to do them. In other words, where as for many dreams remain just that - dreams - a dream list acknowledges what you want to do.
What are the pros of making a dream list?
- You can acknowledge what your dreams are, by writing them down
- It is your list. It doesn't belong to anyone else, since these are YOUR dreams.
- You can work out ways to make them happen - or some of them, at the very least
What are the cons?
- A dream list can seem impossible to achieve
- You feel overwhelmed by your dream list
- Don't allow others to pooh-pooh your dreams & put them down. What's important to one person isn't necessarily important to another.
Steps to coming up with your dream list
1. Start writing down everything you want to do in your life time. Your dream list could involve:
- Places to go - e.g holidays you want to have, things you want to see
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Things to do e.g. swim with dolphins, do the Orient Express, live for a year in a particular country
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Experiences you want to have
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Adventures you'd like to have
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Things you want to possess or own
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Wacky things you want to do
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The small things you want to enjoy in your life from day to day
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What you want to leave as a legacy when you die (not necessarily a financial legacy)
2. Start making them happen
Now some things on your dream list may be the sort of thing you can slot in alongside your day job, or do in the holidays, or take time out between jobs to do. Others may well, you know, need to wait until retirement when you have more time. But start picking things off your dream list and making them happen. It may be impossible for you to do some things on your list - but you may be able to find something closely related to do instead. |
These companies all offer
experience days or holidays
which may help you fulfil some of your dream list
Jump for joy as you acheive your dreams |
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What will it take to make a dream happen?
Is it money, time, the courage to do it (e.g. having a go at abseiling, or walking across the wing of a Tiger moth) More often or not, it's organisation.
- Plan your first dream as soon as you can
- Work out which dreams you might acheive, when, in your life time.
- Aim to achieve as many dreams as you can - but don't fret yourself if you know you won't achieve them all. It's better to achieve some of the dreams you've wrirten down than none of them at all.
- Get others involved. If your dream has always been to do an Italian cookery course in Italy, ask for contributions towards the holiday instead of birthday presents you don't really want. If your dream has been to watch an opera, ask someone to give you tickets as a Christmas present.
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