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Hopes and dreams

Life As I Know It
Colleen Crawford

I'm a writer, a list maker, a goal maker and a little obsessive about tracking my life.

I have notations on my calendar about my daycare schedule, the hours I've logged at bookkeeping, appointments, events in our lives and the list goes on.

I wrote a journal of my thoughts before I started blogging and when I reread those words, I was astounded at the goals I unknowingly set for myself during a rough time in my life. And amazed when I realized I had accomplished each one of them.

My brother assembled our family together and made a video recording in 1996 where, among other things, he asked us questions about our hopes and dreams. We watched that video together 13 years later and I marvelled at the dreams that had come true for me.

By blogging, I have tracked my thoughts, hopes, dreams and goals. The mere act of writing something down gave me the means to look back and say, "Hey, I accomplished that!" It has made me realize just how many of my dreams are coming true.

Some are small. But there have been bigger goals — education, career changes, financial goals, the taking part in a dance competition — and the (still to be realized) dream of owning a bed and breakfast.

I have most of these ideas and goals tracked on my blog. I have gone back and read the words I had forgotten I wrote and thought "Hey, another dream came true!"

If I hadn't written all of these things down, I wouldn't have realized how many of my goals were attained. We say things all of the time, but how often do we overlook the small achievements as yet another dream comes true?

I highly recommend finding some way to track your goals — a Hopes and Dreams Journal — something as inconsequential as a small notepad. We used to write letters to Santa, didn't we? What is wrong with writing a letter to ourselves with a list of all we hope to accomplish. Call it a bucket list, call it a things to do before I turn (place age here), call it what you may.

Record your wish list in whatever fashion suits you best.

Tuck it away and forget about it.

Bring out your list and add to it whenever a new dream comes to mind.

Reread it in a year (or 10).

You will be amazed at just how many of your dreams came true.

Sometimes it feels like we are just going in circles. The thing we don't realize as we continue to go about our day-to-day life, is the circle is evolving. Some years it gets a little smaller, other years it expands. It's fun to reach outside your comfort zone and try to make it encompass just a little bit more than it did before.

It's satisfying to have a way to look back and see how far you've come.

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