We are all put on this planet for a reason. Many reasons, actually. God made each of us unique and he inspires each of us to accomplish certain things. Oftentimes, the dreams God inspires us to accomplish are big, intimidating, and outside our comfort zone.
The world tries its best to stifle those dreams and to distract us from pursuing them. But guess what? There are people in this world who will be really, really blessed if you take your dreams seriously and do what you can to achieve them!
So what are you waiting for?
It may be you’ve been so busy dealing with life that you’ve stuffed your dreams out of sight where they won’t bother you. It may be you’ve been disappointed or ridiculed too often, and so you don’t dare give your dreams any credence. It may be your dreams seem so small and insignificant that they aren’t worth pursuing.
Wherever you may be, these questions can help you reconnect with your God-given dreams and help you find valid reasons to pursue them.
Questions to inspire your dreams
Come up with as many answers as you can to each of these questions. It doesn’t matter how selfish, outlandish, impossible, or silly your answers are. Just write whatever pops into your head or burns in your heart. The more honest you are, the better. (When you are finished, you can shred them and no one else will ever know. But don’t shred them yet, you need your answers for the next step…)
I would love it if …
- I would love it if … I could learn to draw.
- Our local library had ample funding.
- I could write and publish a book about ____.
- I could afford to travel to Europe.
- I would leave my current job and start my own company doing ___.
- I could retire early and spend months doing service work.
- Human trafficking were stopped.
- I had more time to spend with my kids/parents/grandkids.
- I was a coach for a kids soccer team.
- Our community had a safe place for teens to hang out.
If I wasn’t afraid to fail, I would …
- Learn to dance.
- Take acting lessons.
- Go skiing with my friends.
- Apply for that job opening.
- Start a band and play ___.
- Start a business doing ___.
- Audition for a role in community theater.
- Do something to stop human trafficking in my local area.
- Ask local businesses to support the library.
- Start a GoFundMe to raise money to create and market my awesome solution to ___.
- Offer online courses to teach others how to ___.
- Start and Etsy shop to sell my crafts.
If I had zero fear of judgment or criticism, I would …
- Show my poems to others.
- Sing in the choir.
- Get involved with my local politician.
- Run for the school board.
- Create an exhibit of my art.
- Agree to be interviewed on my friend’s podcast.
- Protest the state’s policy about ___.
- Quit the job I hate and go back to school.
- Use my interior design skills to help others decorate.
- Get involved in an English-as-a-Second-Language tutor program.
- Start my own podcast.
How to use the questions to find Dreams Worth Pursuing
- Each day for a week, spend two minutes writing down as many answers to the questions as you can. Yes, actually write them down. On paper. (You will need to look at them later.) Don’t worry if you repeat answers from one day to the next. Don’t fret if you miss a day. Don’t judge your answers, just be honest.
- After you have a week’s worth of lists, read over them and circle words, phrases, or concepts that are repeated. (Either word-for-word, or just similar.) Create a short list of the most-repeated ideas. This is your “Possible Dreams to Pursue” list.
- Look at the possible list. If one dream is leaping off the page and shouting “DO ME! RIGHT NOW!” consider that confirmation that you have a Dream Worth Pursuing. You may put the others aside and focus on that dream in the following steps. If you are not sure which dream is most worth pursing, pick three or so and do the following steps for each of them.
- Ask yourself “Why is this dream important to me?” or “Why does it inspire me?” Write your answers down. Try for at least ten.
- Next ask yourself “How might this dream benefit others?”
- For each of your answers in steps 4 & 5, ask the question, “Why does that reason matter to me?”
- Consider your results from steps 4-6. Do your bottom-line Why answers indicate that this dream means something important to your soul? How would you feel if you actually achieved this dream? How would you feel ten years from now if you never tried to achieve it?
I hope these questions give you permission to dream, and the courage to consider actually pursuing one of them. Happy dreaming!
