Tag: dream

New Year, New Dreams: How to Ignite Your Passion and Set Meaningful Goals

Resolution is a 4-letter word! Instead of setting New Year’s Resolutions for 2025, let’s explore our dreams for the year ahead and set meaningful goals to make them a reality.

If you read my last post, you’ll know I was taking some time to reflect on 2024. I proposed 10 questions to guide this reflection. I looked back at my decisions, not to second guess them, but rather to see how they contributed to where I am today. In 2024, my theme was “Curiosity, Courage, Compassion, Connection”. This served as a guide to the questions that I asked myself as the year went on, especially when I was experiencing new situations. This reminded me to stop making my world smaller and to step out to strengthen connections. I have to say, I feel pretty good about 2024 – the accomplishments and the way I approached challenges. My world is definitely bigger now.

Now it is time to start thinking about the year ahead.

I don’t believe in setting New Year’s resolutions anymore. Been there, done that, and failed multiple times to see them through. So often, when we set resolutions (this should be a 4-letter word) we are focused on our short comings: I’m too shy, too fat, too slow, too (insert defect here).

This year, I am exploring my dreams. No, not the dreams I have when I am sleeping (those are too weird), I’m talking about the dreams that I have for my life. I am a big fan of dreaming, exploring possibilities! Dreams ignite motivation and fuel personal growth.

“You are never too old to set another goal or dream a new dream” – C S Lewis

I was listening to a sermon last Sunday (cor.org December 29, 2024), and the pastor proposed the following self-reflection questions to prepare for the new year (Notes in italics are mine):

  • Who am I? (What defines me? What are my strengths? Gifts?)
  • What dreams do I have for my life? (Life is short, what do I want to achieve or accomplish with the time I have? How do I want to be remembered?)
  • What obstacles are preventing me from pursuing my dreams? (Real or imagined, what is holding me back. What are my growth opportunities?)
  • What am I most afraid of happening should I chase this dream? (My preferred take on this question: What is the best thing that could happen should I chase this dream?)
  • What are 3 practical things I could do today to explore these dreams? (Time to take action… NOW!)
  • Who can I vet these dreams with? (I don’t have to figure this out alone, who can walk this journey with me?)

You might be thinking “This sounds like a lot” and maybe your tempted to jump right in to setting goals for the year. Remember, goals are a way to achieve dreams. A goal without a dream is just another item on the to-do list that you can ultimately check off, but it doesn’t really feed into something bigger. When you create the dream, you know exactly what the goal ties to and you will be far less likely to give up.

As we journey together into the new year, I’ll be dreaming big, setting goals, and moving forward. And yes, I’ll be doing all of this in my garden!

Happy New Year my friend. You are full of possibilities. Take a little time at the start of the new year to explore YOUR DREAMS! And if you need someone to believe in your dreams with you, just let me know!