My sister recently landed on a glacier in a helicopter. Some of our friends see her pictures from adventures in the beautiful New Zealand wilderness and tell me: “She’s so lucky.” I smile and reply: “And damn determined, too.”
Cassidy didn’t just stumble upon a helicopter with an empty seat. She envisioned that remote glacier, that magical flight, that life-changing moment. And then she took the deliberate steps to make the vision a reality: quitting a secure job, leaving her comfort zone, traveling solo to a foreign country, seeking out ways to trade her expertise to make a living.
I’m proud of her. It takes guts to leap from a picture on her vision board to the actual moment in unfamiliar territory. And it’s a leap many people never risk. You know why? Because you don’t know how hard you’ll land when your sooo-much-fun, mid-air, arms-outstretched, anything-is-possible leap is over.
Rob and I made a similar leap. We hit lifetime highs while hovering effortlessly in the nether-world of traveling. It took quite a while to dust off the dirt from our clumsy plop back to reality last year. But now that we have…it’s time to start a new vision board! (Or at least a metaphoric board, since I barely have time to shower these days, much less clip magazine articles to make a real one).
Here’s the secret: manifesting your dreams takes work. It’s worth it, though, because life is more fun when you have grand plans, even if those plans don’t make it off the board. We’re ready to start the work again. During our recent road trip to river raft and explore the coast in Oregon, Rob and I put forward some pictures that embody a few dreams for the future:
A sailboat: starting to feel a bit suffocated without any wind in our nonexistent sails.
Books: to read (ha!) and to write.
One big backpack: I still cringe at the stuff in our house, and long for lightweight living.
Ocean: hoping to boat-sit or house-sit/swap near the sea for a few weeks each winter. Any takers?
A clock: to make the most of many moments.
Rivers: so many more to float and fish.
A vintage motorcycle: because Rob needs a new project and death-defying hobby.
Cash: piles of it, so we can retire early.
Peaks: to physically climb, and to aspire to emotionally, too.
A camera: ready to ramp up the photography skills to augment the writing dreams.
Pillows: because we both need a LOT more sleep post-infant before putting big plans in place.
Smiling faces: including us, family, friends, and strangers, since people are our axis of awesome.
You’ll notice I didn’t add “helicopter” or “glacier” to the metaphoric vision board list. That’s because I’ll leave manifesting snow-related adventures to Cassidy. Sure, I’d land on a glacier … but only if I stumbled on an empty seat.
