my 40 dreams

2

November 24, 2013 by Caity Stuart

Below is a little project that I’ve worked on for the past 40 days. As I have been in the midst of my last semester of graduate classes, it has been easy to get lost in the weeds and completely focused on my current work. With that, it has been very easy to get disheartened as I begin to imagine what life will look like upon graduation. What will it look like?! Well, instead of being scared about it, I decided to take charge and answer that question for myself.

Below are my answers. The * indicate how often I thought of that idea after I had already written it days before:

1. Traveling to places that renew, inspire, and fill me with conviction. *
2. A garden. A big one. With lots of tomatoes and basil. And flowers. And chickens. ***
3. Music. But more specifically singing in front of crowds and playing of Mandolin (and listening to the French horn). **
4. A lot of silliness and laughter and fun and goofiness and silliness and puppets. *****
5. Community festivals and celebrations. Like Pumpkin Fest. Yes, Pumpkin Fest.
6. Studying, discovering, living near, and sharing of history. It shall never leave me. ****
7. Easy access to places of wilderness in my hometown. *
8. Multiple walkable and bike-able destinations from my home.
9. Intentional, creative, local, healthy, and delicious meals. Preferably shared with many people. *
10. A strong presence of mentoring, both to receive and provide. **
11. Great friends. *
12. Adventures to new places and through new ideas. Never stop being challenged. *
13. Space to be creative, both personally and professionally. ***
14. Spontaneity, as if my life depended on it.
15. Living close enough to my family that we can be active in each other’s lives. *
16. To do *at least* one thing that I never thought was possible. **
17. A big porch with rocking chairs and iced tea. *
18. To create usable and beautiful things to use in my house and to share with others. Things such as pottery, woodwork, soap, art, photography, kombucha, beer, bread, etc. **
19. to tap, boil, make, and share my own maple syrup. **
20. Being physically active in a way that embraces the outdoors, is healthy for my body, and healthy for my soul. *
21. A team of creative, driven, sincere, crazy, silly, filled with conviction co-workers. ***
22. To opportunity to speak truth between invested stakeholders; to interpret well-meaning stories so that the world may better know how to listen. **
23. To be proficient at Photoshop. *
24. To allow space for curiosity to seize my present moment.
25. Mountains.
26. Space to breathe. *
27. A supportive partner that I am head-over-heals in love with. *
28. For celebration to take precedence in my life. *
    
29. To not bring work home, to live a balanced life of work and living, with living taking priority.
30. How do I work for Pixar? (or a place like it?)
31. Live classical music.
32. To be happy with today. ***
33. A partner who is silly, caring, ridiculous, creative, respectful, supportive, encouraging, devious, crafty, determined, filled with conviction, adventurous, curious, loving, hilarious, and all mine. **
34. To never shy away from my story but rather to embrace it (the good, bad, & ugly) and to use it as a source of inspiration and love for others. *
35. Meditation, silence, and Yoga. *
36. To go after a crazy dream. (such as Savage and Sons brew and grille)
37. To share my life with others in a way that spread love and hope.
38. To never lose site of the essence of “lagom” (Swedish for “just the right amount”).
39. To live with intention.
40. To live in right relationship.

I’ve learned that this is certainly not the end of this list. I’ve only just started! But I have also started to see patterns of things that are REALLY important to me, things that in order to live a full, meaningful life, I must recognize and maintain.

What would be on your list?