"I Was Watching My Dreams Turn Into Memories"

Did I find a mantra?

I don’t know why I’m so affected by words.

I’m a sucker for a fantastic quote or aphorism.

I heard the quote in the title while watching a YouTube video a couple weeks back and it gave me goosebumps. I’m getting goosebumps again writing this out.

Despite my love of words, I’ve never had a mantra.

That statement might be the closest I’ve come to finding one.

It’s more than, “Make your dreams come true” or “Make your dreams a reality.” There is something tangible about a dream becoming a memory. Solidifying itself.

You can’t feel “reality” or “coming true”, but if I asked you what your best memories feel like you can describe them in great detail.

I don’t know how to articulate what I would want more, at the end of my life, than for all my dreams to have become memories.

There is an exercise I’ve heard people talk about in different ways.

It boils down to writing your own obituary and reverse engineering your life to make it true.

While it’s a good starting point for people who are lost in life, it doesn’t encapsulate everything I would want my life to be.

If you’re curious, this is what I personally arrived at:

Everyone says it, but Blake was the world’s greatest husband, father, grandfather and great-grandfather. He was full of laughter and was always ready to tell a crazy stories to the kids at the family barbecue or at his weekly gathering of friends. He had a spring in his step late into life and always wanted to keep the party going. Jokes, stories or thoughts, his communication skills allowed him to always speak his mind, so you knew when he loved something he meant it. Sometimes it meant feedback you weren’t always ready to hear but it always came from a place of love, respect and wanting the best for everyone.

Short and sweet.

I’m not writing, “He loved his year long trip around the world with his wife and adult kids” in the obituary, despite the fact I’m going to work on making that a reality.

It’s also paralyzing to think about how your “dream life” starts at some undetermined and non-guaranteed time in the future.

The phrasing of turning dreams into memories combats this too. All it takes is accomplishing a small piece of a dream. That starts a stack of memories that make up your dream life.

Last week I talked about how anxiety comes from a knowledge or execution gap. And, I previously wrote about how to take tangible steps towards your dream life.

Therefore, with even this modest amount of information it seems achievable to turn dreams into memories…

One small step at a time…

With a surprising lack of stress.

What’s the quote that has impacted your life the most?