Let me ask you this question:  Are your Dreams bigger than your budget right now? 

If so, that’s great!

What I mean by that, is it’s actually a great place to be because when your dreams are bigger than your budget that tells me a couple of things.  First, it tells me that you are in fact “dreaming” and that’s always good news; sometimes we forget about our dreams and end up settling for a mediocre life. 

Secondly, it tells me that you have to “grow into your dreams.”  You see, when you have BIG dreams and you don’t have the money or the time (the 2 biggest excuses we give ourselves because they sound so “legitimate”) then it means YOU have to “change”, “grow”, “transform”, and essentially remove the obstacles that are standing in the way of you and your dreams.

The problem is not outside of yourself, it’s inside of yourself.  Which also means the solution is not outside of yourself, it’s inside of yourself as well.  We can blame the reason we haven’t realized our dreams on a lack of money (or time), but the question remains: 

What are you doing about that?

There’s an old saying:  “When you pray, move your feet.” 

So are you moving your feet to change what needs to be changed in order for you to live your dream life?

I’m going to let you in on a little secret.  Money isn’t keeping you from your dreams.  You are.

Years ago when I met Billy Ray Cyrus and he encouraged me to follow my dreams…I took his advice.  My dream was writing.  I wanted to be a writer.  Unfortunately, I was a single mom with 3 young children working full time at a law firm with little money or spare time.  So I had really great excuses about why I wasn’t following my dreams.  But the interesting thing was that after I left the legal field I had more spare time and more money (because I didn’t have the expenses of working downtown and paying for childcare) and I still wasn’t doing my writing!

Instead I was talking on the phone with my girlfriends, watching television, reading books, going to lunch with friends, spending time with my family, and doing everything but “writing”.  I wondered one day if “writing” was my dream and my passion, why wasn’t I doing any.

Good question, right?

Well, the answer is that I had to “grow into my dream.”  I had to remove old habits and replace them with new habits. 

In order to realize my dreams, I learned how to let go of the “old”, take risks, leave the “known” and step into the “unknown.”

And guess what?  You are going to have to do the same.  You have to leave your “safe” and “known” little world and step out on the edge. 

You have to trust and have faith that the Universe wants you to realize your Dreams, to be successful, to love the work you do and to be happy!

I met Billy Ray in 1992 and had that aha moment a couple of years later.  I knew I needed to change…that the problem wasn’t out there as in “If I only had more money or time”…I knew it was within.  So slowly but sure I started removing the obstacles that were getting in the way of my dreams. 

Yes, old habits die hard and I’m not perfect by any means, but my Dreams are bigger than my budget still today and that’s a wonderful thing!  I’m still growing, evolving, learning and transforming into the woman I know I can be.

Always remember on this journey to be kind and gentle to yourself; we’re looking for progress not perfection.  I’ll never be perfect and neither will you. 

All you can be is the “best YOU, that YOU can be.”  I know I still have more growing and learning to do, but “I’ve come a long way baby” as they say.  Now, instead of fighting my demons, I invite them over for tea and crumpets.

If you really believe in your dreams (and in yourself), then you’ll never, ever, ever give up on them!

If you do give up, then it really wasn’t your Dream.