Dreams Do Come True If You Write Them Down

I dreamed of being a freelancer.

I dreamed of being an intercultural trainer.

I dreamed of taking a vacation whenever I want.

These were the dreams I had when I was working full time, 9 to 6, five days a week in Osaka until 2014. I had a freelancer friend and I loved how she scheduled her own work. I had met an independent coach who does a lot of online coaching so she can work in different countries. I also met my mentor, who is an intercultural trainer and coach, who flew to different countries and delivered trainings. I admired how they work and how they were able to visit foreign countries when they wanted to.

So, I wrote on my journal that I wanna be like them. I wrote many other dreams.

Thinking back, I started writing my journal when I was middle school. I remember it well because it was the day Emperor Showa died and I remember writing about it. Now I Googled it and it says he died on January 7th, 1989. So, it means I’ve been writing my journal for the past 30 years.

At first I was just writing whatever happened on that day and my feelings. But, after I read some books, I repeatedly found messages like, “write your dreams down so they’ll come true.” So, I started writing my dreams down. Sometimes, I write them like want-to-do lists, sometimes I write them as prayers, sometimes I write them as if they already happened.

Every now and then, I read my old journals, or old want-to-do lists (that’s in an excel file!). And I’m amazed to find that many of the dreams have come true! Even the dreams that seemed too big or impossible back then.

Today was the day I strongly felt how thankful I am that many of the dreams have come true. I had a wonderful online intercultural session working with an assignee in China and an resource consultant in Denmark. I am able to schedule intercultural or coaching session on my own for whenever I want to schedule for, and I am able to schedule other family time, self-care time, and social time. I can take vacation whenever I want!

For those of you who are reading this post, I strongly recommend you to write your dreams down. If you already write down your dreams down, please share how your experiences have been. I’d like to hear what your journey is like.