Dream Big!

Ask my son on any given day what he wants to be when he grows up, and you will be greeted with a myriad of answers, but the one consistency within his answers is that they‘re always grand – not grand in prestige necessarily – but grand in ambition. I always ask for more details about his budding interest of the moment, and fortunately, my son loves to elaborate. I like listening to the thread of his futuristic thoughts. However, what I enjoy the most is that at age 4 he is already aiming high.

I want my children to aim high and dream big.  Who doesn’t? However, it is more than just that. I want my children to understand that they are indeed capable of reaching their goals no matter how far-reaching. Of course, dreaming big is open to interpretation. I certainly don’t want my kids to be stressed out or consumed with their next achievement, but the point is that I want my children to do something that deeply and richly fulfills them. I want them to believe that they can accomplish anything that they set their minds to. I want them to feel limitless.  I want them to believe in themselves and create lives that satisfy their great expectations.

This may seem too metaphysical, but the truth is that the mind is a powerful thing. Often, it is our own thoughts that place us in mental prisons. We set limited expectations and convince ourselves that we can’t be too impressive, too strong, too successful or too capable. Instead, our restricted thoughts say that we must settle: settle for a life of slight dissatisfaction, monotony or mediocrity. We let these constrained thoughts persuade us that our current circumstances are as good as it gets, that this is the best that we can do, be or feel. This is quite frankly both sad and untrue. The truth is that we can free ourselves from the shackles of our constrained thoughts at any time and indeed at any age.

I don’t know the root cause of our cerebral incarceration, but I do know that it is born of fear. We fear the devastation of reaching for the stars only to fall short. We fear the disappointment, the rejection, and perhaps we fear the realities of success itself. I know that I have had my challenges in this regard, but I don’t want to pass fear on to my children as though it is genetic. No, I will look fear in the eye and dare to dream big. I will teach my children to do the same and lead through example.

At the conclusion of my son’s extensive explanation of his adulthood plans, he looks me in the eyes with a curious expression and says, “Mommy, I can be anything I want to be, right?” “Right” I say, and right I believe.

Embrace Your MOMentum

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