Do you have a dream? I don’t mean, “do you dream at night,” as when you retire for the evening and sleep away the hours. I mean, “Do you have a dream?” Like, “someday, I want to be a …” or “someday, I want to go to …” or “someday, I hope …”

The dreams or wishes we have probably depend somewhat on our age. And, even then, it can also change with time. What we wish for as children can be as hopeful and exciting as it is impossible to achieve with our circumstances at the time. A dream is like a seed, a seed of possibilities, but there are many variables involved.

Variables may include our geography or where we live at the time and the opportunities afforded us there. There may be money involved and our families’ ability to pay. We need someone to believe in us and our abilities. And, of course, we need someone to encourage us and propel us forward. Our age at the time may also be a variable. Are we too old to even attempt fulfilling our dream? Do we have the necessary energy, time and money?

Think of your earliest dreams. I’d say you had the potential to make them come true. But something got in the way. Dreams are about the distant future, yet when you’re elderly, the future isn’t all that distant.

At age 4, I dreamed of being a dancer on the stage as I performed with the Mouseketeers in my living room. They were members of the Mickey Mouse Club I watched on our television. But some variables came into play, like no money for lessons and no lessons to be had in our rural area. I did love teaching school to my dolls so I thought I’d like to someday be a teacher. In junior high that dream gave way to becoming an Olympic gymnast. But, again, no money for a coach and no coaches in our area. In high school, I loved biology so I thought of becoming a lab technician and using the microscope all the time. But my senior year, my physical abilities and admiration for my physical education teacher led me to apply to college for teaching and working towards a Bachelor of Science degree. After graduation, my dream became landing a teaching position in the Adirondacks. And that’s where I taught my entire career, offering my students classes in dance and gymnastics and even teaching science classes to elementary school students. So, in many ways, my past dreams (dancer, teacher, gymnast, scientist) incorporated themselves into my lifetime career. And I still live in the mountains which I love.

So dreams can change and expand and evolve and grow, like a forecast for the years ahead. Take a few moments now and think about what dreams you have had during your life? Do you have a job that is satisfying and fulfilling and provides you with an adequate wage? Or do you dream of yet another profession to enter into? Do you live where you’d like to? Are you with the person you’d like to be with? And on and on.

I see a goal as being slightly different from a dream. With a goal, there’s a greater chance that it will be achieved. For example: yes, you made the basketball team. It took practice but you made it. Or maybe you want to hold the record for the most field goals in a season for your high school. It may require hard work but it’s possible, maybe even probable if you’re a really good kicker to begin with. A dream does not have that probability. Actually, it’s probable that we won’t fulfill our dream in its exact entirety due to the variables I mentioned earlier. Remember a dream is farther away in the distant future. And because of this distance, it’s more likely that a variable will interfere before we get our dream fulfilled. As long as the dream exists, however, the possibility exists. So maybe … we will.

Dreams do serve an important role in our lives. They give us hope and maybe a direction for us to move in, something to work towards. We feel our purpose through them. For without a dream, where would we be? I think probably bored and sad and depressed and lonely.

So if you don’t think you have a dream, think again. It may not be in the forefront of your mind as when you were younger, but it still may be there. And if you don’t feel you have a dream, get one. Focus on it. Allow your dream to direct your life still, no matter what your age.

Being I’m now in my mid-70s, I asked myself one day, “Do I now have a dream?” I have satisfied many of my dreams, even if I had to modify some. I live where I dreamed of (in the mountains) and am with the person I dreamed about. I had a profession that brought me much satisfaction. I even fulfilled my dream of becoming a 46er. And that was after my diagnosis of MS. So, what is my dream now? I think that it’s to help others, as well as myself, in achieving peace within ourselves. In sharing the wisdom I’ve gained through my personal experiences in life, I hope to accomplish just this. By using words, either spoken or written, I hope to convey this wisdom to aid any who struggle with being human, as we all are. And after that, who knows?

Mother Nature is there, as always, to aid us with her example. So let’s follow her lead. As I spend time with her, the words come. The ideas surface. And I’m off to my next write.

Life is an adventure and I’m on my own journey. Who knows where it will lead me?

For what is life about … if not a dream?

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Debby Havas is an author living in Jay. Her writings express her experiences in the healing energies of Mother Nature.