I love dreaming. I really love dreaming those “holy wow – really?” dreams that feel a whole lot more like incredible imagination and a whole lot less like a business plan.
But too often, life gets full and my brain gets busy on just the keeping up – and it all feels fine until one of my close, “permission to ask the hard questions” friends asks “So, how are you? How is your heart?” and I realize I’ve taken all that imagination and spent it on work projects and creative storage solutions for all the clutter that collects in the garage (or in my brain). And I’ve not saved any of that imagination back for the dreaming.
But the dreaming is back now. I’d like to say it’s because of the START Experiment that I’ll be part of for a few weeks (a very cool project hosted by Jon Acuff from that teams folks up in groups of 24 to “punch fear in the face” and work on goals and plans in a community setting). And it would be dishonest to say the project doesn’t have a place on the page that’s being written. But the big dreaming – the “beyond imagination” dreaming that is at once fun and terrifying and dizzying is happening because of three START women – Melissa, Becky, and Libby. I’ve never met any of them in person, but feel as if I’ve known them all forever. We’re not in the same team, not in the same state – but when we chat it rather feels like a great road trip. We’ve swapped stories and fears and maybe a few pictures of cupcakes. And we’ve done something bigger.
We’ve let our dreams get big. We’ve let the goals we walked in with be eclipsed by better goals. We’ve all had our “holy wow” moments, and our “holy crap” realizations. And we’ve reminded each other it’s OK.
So I’m doodling now – sitting down with pen and paper and reminders of what is wrapped up in the incredible imagination side of it all. There are doodles about food and safe places and teaching and what home looks like. Doodles about what writing makes the most sense and about a crazy dream I had once where I was dressed in camo, protecting people who were hiding in a house. I don’t know where it will end up. But I do know this – I’m thankful for three strangers who sure feel a whole lot more like friends.
So, just in case I forget to say it – thank you Melissa, Becky, and Libby. And thanks Jon for the invitation to start something.