Lindsey Nordby

The first two weeks of July 2022 completely changed the direction of my dreams and wants.

Now this isn’t to say that I don’t still seek out moving to a big city and living out my acting dreams. Although, I now know this isn’t the life I am destined to have.

When my dog got in her accident in July, what I had always imagined as the perfect life changed just slightly. Instead of wanting to live in the big city (which don’t get me wrong, I still want to), I quickly realized that this wasn’t what was best for me or my family. Rather, I knew that having a house on some acreage for our dog and any future family (future dogs or kids) to run and play was what the best life for my husband and I.

This was hard to take in, because ever since I was a teenager I have always dreamed about living in New York City. Although, now that I am married with a family, there are more opinions that matter than just mine.

My dreams changed, and quite quickly. Isn’t it crazy how one day you want one thing and then something unexpected happens and suddenly you’re chasing after something completely different?

When my dreams started rapidly changing I started doing some research on how to really walk through it all. One thing I read from intelligentchange.com stuck out to me, reading “Aspirations can be mapped along the line of our dreams, fantasies, motivations, goals, or ambitions. They are more general than any of these concepts as they encompass all of them. Aspirations provide us with energy to stay focused and consistent on what is important to us and they give us a direction in life. They are the highest level of focus on the future.”

Re-defining my dreams to recognize them as a focus on that’s important to us change my perspective a bit.

I love New York, and I have always wanted to live there, sure. Although, in the grand scheme of things, New York isn’t important to me. My family is important to me. So, I am more than willing to sacrifice a “dream” for the overall happiness and well-being of my family.

This change in perspective caused me to start thinking about dreams differently. Instead of thinking about what I want, I began to think through what I felt my purpose was, and how I wanted my life to look in the future. What goals was I trying to reach and how was I going to best get there? These thoughts began re-writing my dreams.

With this, I challenge you. How can you re-write your dreams to better serve your life’s purpose and both you and your families long term goals?