Since the establishment of the United States, people have talked about the American Dream. That dream essentially said anyone could own property, a house of their own, and achieve wealth like they never knew before.

However, in the many conversations I’ve had with my clients and others, it seems that dreaming has slowly faded away. It has been replaced, in the daily lives of Americans, with apathy. Many factors have led to this, including the proliferation of debt and the constriction debt places on a person’s ability to grow financially. The idea that the only way to succeed is to go to college and get a job has also shackled the acceptance of dreaming. While college and a job are not bad things, they’re not the only way to succeed and be what you want to become. Trade schools and entrepreneurial endeavors can provide a beneficial path to achieving one’s dreams.

Another thing that has contributed to the death of dreaming is well-intentioned friends and family members who shoot down a person’s dreams by saying they’re not practical or they’re foolish. Some people will tell the dreamer that people like us can’t do that. Or, they hear they don’t have what it takes to make it. Others will saddle the person with traditional career paths because they’re safe, reliable, or a family tradition.

Television, movies, music, the news media, politicians, social media add to this decimation of dreams by presenting their audience with narrow-minded beliefs that there are only certain ways someone can live. If you don’t believe me, listen closely to the direct and subliminal messages delivered by the previously mentioned sources.

It pains me to ask someone what they’d like to do once they’re out of debt and able to live the life they dreamed of living, only to be told they have no idea. They’ll say their only focus is getting out of debt. When I press them to think beyond getting out of debt, they often come up with vague answers for their future.

It also occurs when talking to people in general, especially teens and young adults. I often get statements like, I’m just interested in graduating and getting a job. When asked what they would like to do after they graduate and get a job, they might say buy a house, or my favorite answer I don’t know (by the way, that’s not my favorite answer. It frustrates me to hear someone say that. It’s so limiting).

It’s time we stop settling for mediocrity and begin imagining our lives beyond average. While dreaming bigger is necessary, we also have to remain rooted. That means we need to take steps to achieve our basic needs and fulfill our responsibilities. Then, work beyond them, while still taking care of those needs and responsibilities. An important point to taking care of our needs and responsibilities, while reaching for our dreams, is not to put ourselves or our families in a worse position from the quest to obtain our dreams.

Dreaming always involves risk to some extent. But, taking on debt or unnecessary risks doesn’t serve our families or us. Reducing the risk to ourselves and our families may mean we need to go at a slower pace and make sure we’re working from a solid foundation before we move to the next step toward our dream. Just like building a structure without a good foundation, the building can collapse. You can’t build another story on your building without the ones below it being soundly build to support those above. The sky’s the limit with dreaming.

This article intends to get you to open yourself to dreaming again and supporting those who dream. Don’t be the shackles on yourself or someone else. For this article, my thoughts are for you to start dreaming about your life and what you’d like to become during it. We all need an education and we all need skills to do the basic tasks for human survival. Dreaming begins after that. People are more adept at certain careers and trades. That doesn’t mean we have to stay within the confines of those things. Many jobs, careers, and skills were never imagined a short time ago. Now, they are commonplace.

So how do we move beyond the needs and responsibilities to something of our dreams? First, we need to imagine the dream. Then, we need to determine the steps to achieve it. We may not know all of those at first. But, as we progress through working out the details, those steps tend to become clearer. Sometimes, we may need to talk with someone else to find those steps. There’s nothing the matter with talking to someone else about your dreams as long as they’re not going to dismiss the reality of them or disparage you for having the dream.

I’m telling you, dreaming isn’t dead or a bad idea, despite what you’ve heard. It’s time for all of us to open our eyes, minds, hearts, and imaginations to dreaming again. Dreams built this country and many others. It’s time for you to begin dreaming again. Let your dreams be big, bold, and audacious. Then, once you have that dream, fill in the details. Make the details as intricate as possible because the more defined they become, the more achievable they will be.

Help me see that dreaming isn’t dead. Please let me know what dreams you have for your future and who you want to become. Email me at taketwofinancialcoaching@gmail.com and let me know them.

I hope today’s blog was encouraging to you and provided information to help you and others better handle their financial matters. My purpose through these blogs is to inform the reader about money and financial issues so we all can become better managers of the assets we’ve been given. If you like what you read, make sure to sign up so you can receive my weekly posts. The goal of Take Two Financial Coaching is to provide the necessary information to help families and individuals break the chains of debt, build lasting wealth, and become outrageously generous by changing their perspective around money and finances.

For those who are tired of being in the rat race or just want to better manage what they earn, I am available to have a Free 60 Minute Conversation to discuss your situation and how I can help you change it. Go to my calendar at https://ramseycoach.com/taketwofinancialcoaching to arrange a time that works for you. You can also email me at taketwofinancialcoaching@gmail.