“We don’t dream enough”

Yesterday my Dad and I met with a close family friend to talk about a couple business ideas I’ve been kicking around, and “my life”. That age-old, twenty-something “what are you gonna do with your life” question.

This conversation took a spin that I wasn’t prepared for, in that despite me being an advocate for “thinking outside the box”, our friend asked me to “close my eyes, and tell me where you see yourself in 10 years”. I replied with some statement on the type of job or work that I’d like to be doing.

“Open your eyes,” he says. “You’re thinking too hard. Let’s do word association: I say black–”

“White?” I reply after pausing for a moment.

“You’re thinking before you answer,” he says. “Josh. You’re censoring yourself. I’m asking you to dream, and give me a picture of the kind of life you’d like to have in 10 years. Let’s try this again. Close your eyes, sit on that mountain top, and tell me where you see yourself.”

I close my eyes, pull the burlap sack off my imagination, and start describing what I see. “Flying on an airplane to Paris, taking the Chunnel to London, running for the Anchorage School Board.”

“We don’t dream enough,” he tells me. “We get caught up with what we can’t do, that it keeps us from dreaming about what we could do. I can only work around obstacles if I’m helping you get somewhere.”

I haven’t been able to stop thinking that when I dream, it’s vocational in nature. What kind of job I’ll have, what kind of salary, who will I be working for, what projects I’d like to develop.

If I stop for a moment, take the burlap sack off my head, close my eyes, and describe what I see things start to fall into place. If I want to do something, I’ll know where I’m going, what I need to do to get there, and who I’ll need to work with.

• What haven’t you done because a burlap sack was still covering your imagination?
• What do you see when you close your eyes?
• Where do you see yourself?
• What are your dreams?