I’ve been thinking about dreams.

Not the ones we have when we sleep.

The ones we have when we’re awake.
The ones that bring us more alive.
The ones that never seem to die.

Do you have those?

Some dreams are like shooting stars.
They’re brilliant but brief.
Gone before you catch your breath.
They light the sky of your life, open your mind, then vanish.

Flashy dreams are loud.
They dazzle.
They make us feel clever and courageous…for a moment.

But some dreams are like fires.

They blaze for a while then slowly burn out.
They light the dark, warm the skin, and fade over time without fuel.

Fiery dreams are quieter.
They whisper.
They don’t shout for attention.
They hum beneath the noise.
Steady, sneaky and stubborn.

These are the dreams we tend to forget.
Or ignore. Or resist.
We distract ourselves with busywork and better offers.
We declare them dead and bury them under the practicality of life
and the noise of other peoples expectations.

But they don’t die.

Somewhere beneath the ash, there are coals are still smouldering.
Waiting like wolves at the edge of the forest. Until we’re ready.
Or until we’re broken enough.
Or brave enough.
Or foolish enough to follow them.

Which one are you?

Some people believe…

Dreams are handed out at birth.

‘You get a dream. And you get none!
You do. Aaaaaand, you don’t!’

But fiery dreams aren’t given.
They’re grown.
They rise from the compost of your life.
When the wind is right.
When the soil is ready.

And strangely, fiery dreams seem to grow best when we’re not even watching.
When they have space to stretch out.
To grow the way they want to.
To shape themselves to meet the emerging moment.

If you're reading this thinking, ‘but I don’t have a dream”,
perhaps it’s not because you’re empty.
Or you were never given one at birth.

Perhaps it’s because you’ve forgotten how to hear it.
Or that it’s not required right now.
Or that it still has some simmering to do.

Perhaps your job is not to seek.
But to stand still long enough,
to sit in silence long enough,
to live a wild life for long enough,
that when it’s ready,
it’ll come and will find you.

I have two dreams that won’t die

If you’ve known me for a while, you probably know them.

One is a musical.
The other, a community.

On paper, they’re not important.
The world spins fine without them.
And so do I.
And yet, the world is less without them.
And so am I.

I’ve tried. I’ve made plans.
Public declarations.
Potential partnerships.
Set goals.

But all that effort mostly led to regret, shame, overwhelm and inadequacy.

Why can’t I start? What’s wrong with me? Will I waste my one wild, precious life?

But lately, I’ve stopped carrying the weight of failure.
The heaviness of ‘should’.
And the pressure has lifted.
The desire has returned.
The fire is once again starting to burn.

Funny that.

It used to break my heart.

The thought of dying with a dream still inside me.

It felt like a betrayal.
Like a crime.
Like spitting in the face of a universe
who was gracious enough give me these grand visions.

Now I see it differently.
Maybe this might help you too?

Dreams aren’t possessions.
Or prizes for the selected few.
Or mandates that must be materialised in order to feel worthy.

They’re merely invitations.
Potential pathways to possible futures.
Gateways to something much older and wilder than we realise.

They’re tools the universe uses to help us remember ourselves.
They’re not demands for our arrival, but maps for our becoming.

Which means that not all dreams are meant to be fulfilled.
Not all dreams are meant to be followed.
They just a way for the world to shape us.

To stir us. Move us. Warm us. Wake us.
Sometimes they’re just a beautiful way to keep us company as we pass the time.

So let’s go easy on our dreams.
Or our lack of dreams.
And let them burn the way they want to for a while.

They know more than we do.

So here’s the invitation

If you’re carrying a dream that won’t die…

And it’s heavy on your heart.
No matter how big or small.
No matter how impractical or inconvenient.
No matter how silly or ridiculous.

Take the pressure off.
Stop strangling it with timelines and expectations.
You’ll build it when you’re ready and when the world is ready for you.

Or if you’re searching for a dream.
Rushing from job to job.
City to city.
Relationship to relationship.
Looking for the ‘one wild thing’ you came here to do.

Take the pressure off.
Stop strangling it with timelines and expectations.
You’ll hear it when you ready and when the world is ready for you.

But if you are ready.

To move into the strange, wild foolishness of it all.
Ready to take one lopsided, trembling, miraculous step toward the fire that just won’t go out.

Hit reply and tell me what it is.

I have something coming for you soon.
And in the meantime,
maybe I can help.