Bucket lists. Someday. Maybe. Dreams deferred. Life gets put on hold. Waiting…waiting… waiting. Tell me, what are you waiting for?
A few years ago, while I was still working in an office, a tinny voice over the PA system invited everyone in the office to assemble over at so-and-so’s desk to celebrate her birthday.
Have you been to an office birthday party? Papers pushed aside at the end of a credenza to make room for the cake; a pile of plastic forks, paper plates and some scraggly napkins. Somebody remembers candles and the rare smoker finds his/her lighter to light them. People make their way at varying speeds, some still talking on wireless headsets; some with pen and papers in hand doing double duty as they come for cake and a visit to operations with problems or paperwork to submit.
That afternoon people stood around, as usual, looking at each other until someone took the lead and started singing “Happy Birthday to you …” Again, you know how that goes. A few reedy, quiet voices, a few lip syncs, a few moderate singing voices. They usually struggle through to the end.
But this time was a little different. Paulette was a trainer visiting the office for a few weeks to help with the recent merger. She joined the little crowd assembled to sing. And sing she did! A voice that soared up to the acoustic ceiling tiles, wrapped around surprised faces and made the earnest singers go dim. Everyone was amazed.
As we walked away with our little plates I commented on her singing and asked if she sang professionally. Did she sing at church? Moonlight in a band? Take or give lessons?
“No, no, no.” She laughed. (Even her laugh was big and melodic.) “That’s for when I retire.”
Dream deferred.
Consider the opportunities missed. No, not the big break. Rather, that moment in which a voice is deeply heard; that place where a voice inspires; that time when a voice shows the way and finds the way. All the little mile markers where the course of a journey may have shifted. Not big shifts; just small pebbles rippling out to places never considered.
Now is the time
The time is always right to move toward a dream with a small question and a small step. It’s always the best time for just a toe into the water of possibilities. Because when you start, things begin to happen. As Newton expounds in his Law of Motion: “A body in motion stays in motion”.
Deferred dreams are a slow death. Let’s live. Even if – especially if – it’s in small steps
Contact me to learn how I can help you begin to make possibilities and dreams real. We’ll do it in small, easy steps with small, percolating questions. Time will fly anyway. Let’s get started
