Cultivating Dreams

 

I sat down to write a bit of a writing update for you all, but what came out was more of an introspective look on how my dreams have changed and shifted and how that's okay. 

When Your Dreams Come True by Katie Morford | Guest Post

Most kids want to be a princess or fireman when they grow up. I was that weird kid who wanted to be a missionary and publish a novel.

There are quite a few childish dreams that haven't come true. For example, another career plan was running a racehorse farm in Kentucky (I was going to be the jockey). That one didn't quite pan out, needless to say.

But, there are a surprising number that have come true.

Last year was a "dream come true" type of year for me. I lived in England and traveled the world as a media missionary, writing stories and taking photos to tell about God's work in countries like Myanmar, Haiti, and Namibia. I had co-founded a fiction publishing house with three other amazing women and published my first novel in May 2015. I started dating a kind, Jesus-loving man who wasn't deterred by dating his girl literally across an ocean.

I rode tricycle taxis around Yangon and chatted with Buddhist monks and hugged on orphaned children. I came face-to-face with lions in a game park in Namibia and rode a camel in the Arabian desert and watched baby rhinos come up to the waterhole at night under the African stars.

It was truly incredible. No doubt about it.

But it wasn't all glamorous adventures. Seeing my dreams come true meant walking to work over 45 minutes each day, working 9-5 (or more) and then coming home to write with my co-author over Skype for 4-6 hours most evenings. It meant 24 hours of travel in planes and airports at the wrong time of the month with Bangkok stomach. It meant 60-hour weeks in Third World countries and at conferences with 4,000 teens and staff. It meant missing my friend and college mentee's funeral when she finally succumbed to brain cancer.

One day, I was sitting in my favorite cafe (The Shabby Scholar in Carlisle, England--I recommend it) and I realized that by God's grace I had seen so many of my deepest, most long-standing dreams and aspirations come true.

How many 27-year-olds can say they've seen their dreams come true?

I wish I could say, in that moment, I fell on my knees and thanked God. I wish I could say I jumped up and did a happy dance and celebrated all that I'd been able to accomplish through His work in me. But I didn't. I panicked.

What now? I thought, gulping my tea. What do I do with the rest of my life, now that my dreams have come true?

Seeing my dreams come true didn't feel like I expected. It was a bit of a let-down, to be honest. I kept thinking, "What's wrong with me? All my dreams are coming true! Why am I not happy?"

Eventually, I came to realize that accomplishing old dreams just makes creative space for new dreams. (tweet this) I came to peace with the fact that life isn't like the movies. Success isn't what we think. Dreams coming true and hard times and failures all run right alongside each other and tangle together in this messy thing called life.

I realized that seeing my dreams come true, while a beautiful thing, isn't everything. Nor should it be. We celebrate, we rejoice, we thank God for the gift of seeing us through the struggle on the road to "dream come true" moments.

It can be a scary feeling, when dreams come true. When the driving purpose of your life for the past few years--maybe your whole life--is suddenly gone, you can feel disoriented, like a boat without its mooring line. I certainly did.

But the beauty of the last page is that you get to write another book. Live a new, different story. Go on exciting adventures to places that haven't even entered your dreams yet. 

In December 2015, I moved from England back to my native Kansas. Come June, I'll be stepping down from my full-time position with Operation Mobilization to pursue my new dream--my own creative business combining my passions for custom photography, editing novels, and mentoring young writers.

Exciting? Sure. Terrifying? Most definitely!

If you're still waiting for your dreams to come true, keep pressing on. The view will definitely be worth the climb! And if you're in that strange middle ground of trying to pin down your new dream--breathe deep, pick up that notebook, and write the first page of a new chapter in your story.

_______________

Katie: I am a globe-trotting writer, photographer, editor, and media missionary, who’s secretly a homebody and a bookaholic. After three years living in England, I’ve finally moved back to my Kansas roots. I blog about creativity, travel, and walking with Jesus in the messiness of real life and authentic relationships. My co-authored debut novel, "Kenan," is an international thriller in the vein of the Bourne movies and "Sahara", packed with action and snarky one-liners. It was released last May under the pen name Karis Waters.

Instagram: Create.Explore.Illuminate
Pinterest: https://uk.pinterest.com/CPkariswaters/ 
Twitter: @CPKarisWaters
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Karis-Waters-829112427157211/

Check out her novel under the pen name Karis Waters...

Kenan
by Karis waters & Carrie Lemke

Assassinations rarely follow the plan, even when you’re the demolitions expert for the Ghazi’s top hit squad, the Katiller. Kenan gets caught in
the crossfire when their latest hit goes south. Bleeding out on the cobblestones of Milan, the one person who can help him is the last person he expects.

Just off her shift at a nearby hospital, American surgeon Kris Marshall thought she was done saving lives for the day—until Kenan falls at her
feet half dead. She doesn’t realize saving him will put herself and her friends in the sights of the world’s deadliest terror organization.

Honor demands the Katiller protect Kris and her friends, since she saved one of their own, but the Ghazi call for her elimination. On the run across
the lush Italian countryside and the icy beauty of the Swiss Alps, Kenan discovers that there is always a choice between life and death. A choice
that might cost him everything.

Purchase: Kenan

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A Small Part of the Whole

Ever since I was a little girl I've been fascinated by books, enchanted by happy endings, and consumed with stories. I saw plots in everything (I still do) and found myself daydreaming more than I'd like to admit.

Now, as I'm officially "grown up" (or at least I'm supposed to be) I still find that these same things hold my attention. I'm sucked into "what if" scenarios in my mind all the time. A line from an article or blog or a photograph can cause me to tailspin into another world. One of my own making.

Have you ever had a dream so big you thought you'd explode unless it came true? 

Sometimes I feel that way about writing. I know I don't need to be published to be a writer. Though the validation does sound appealing. To think that someone could find my writing intriguing enough to make a commitment to it. To endorse it. To believe in it like I already do...

And yet that's not what it's about, is it? It's not about validation, though I want that. It's not about credit or notoriety either, though I also seem to want that at times too.

It's about passion. 

I am passionate about writing. Sometimes I doubt whether my writing is any good, but at the end of the day if I'm not writing because I love it, then I'm writing for the wrong reasons. That doesn't mean I don't want to learn and improve my craft, because I do. And I realize that improvement will be painful and almost unbearable at times, but it will be worth it.

The dreamer in me has plans. Oh so many plans and schemes and hopes. Things I think could happen and things that only God could bring about.

But for me...for now...it's enough to dream and see what He makes of it all. Because, in reality, I am only a small part of the whole. A piece in the puzzle.

And that is enough for me.

If I Could Be Anything...A Guide to Dreaming Big

Source

A princess. A warrior. A flying trapeze artist. An....author?

The beauty of asking a child what they want to be is in their reply. When you're 5 years old it's perfectly acceptable to want to grow up to be a princess or a super hero. Why wouldn't that be okay?

Then life happens and we start to realize that some dreams aren't possible. Isn't that a horrible thing? To realize that you can't just decide to be a princess or Superman?

When I was younger, I went through stages (as all kids do). I asked my mom and she said in Kindergarten I wanted to be a "rock star". Um, all right then.  But apparently I also wanted to be a horse trainer. Now that's a good solid career for you.

Source

But then something happened in Jr. High. I started reading more and suddenly the idea of creating my own world and characters sounded more appealing than any other profession. I actually could be a princess if I wanted to--because I would be living through my characters. My best friend and I started creating stories. I'm talking volumes of hand written notebooks filled with horrible spelling and messy letters, but they were our stories.

Into high school the dream lived on. Sure, I loved music, but there was always something about writing. An appeal nothing else could match. Well, I'll say "the rest is history" for now (that's for you, dear readers, because I'm already pushing the "attention span" limit).

Seeing as how today is Halloween, I wanted to take a different route. To think about dreams. I've come up with 6 ways for us not to lose that childlike wonder. Don't let rejection or life circumstances bring you down. Dream big.

6 Ways To Dream Big 

1. Suspend belief
The best way to dream big is to forget that things aren't possible. Now...take this with a grain of reality here. You may want to become the captain of an inter-space armada but, at this point, no one is going to make that one. (Shout out to my Star Trek nerd friends!)

2. Don't be too serious
Second rule of dreaming is to dream. Yes, the realist in you may want to drag down your hopes into the depths of what is possible, but allow your creative child to run free--for a time.

Source

3. Take rejection well
Nothing shatters dreams better than a well timed rejection. But it doesn't have to end there! Figure out why you were rejected and use that to....(move ahead to #4)

4. Learn from your mistakes
Also hard, but I really think that rejection and messing up helps to shape your dream. It's like the clay on a wheel - you need hands to mold it or else it just stays a lump. Don't be the lump, be the hands.

5. Make good friends 
Can't say it enough - your friends will determine your success. Yeah, that's a bold statement, but I really believe that those around us will either encourage our dreams or smash them to bits. Don't get me wrong, a healthy dose of reality is good now and then, but you need friends who can dream with you.

6. Set goals
This is what separates the children from the adults. It's fine to dream big, but then you need to take it to the next step. Set realistic goals to accomplish your dream and then work hard toward those goals.

What about you? What do are you dreaming of?