I think my dreams might be boring

I often wonder what my hopes and dreams are. Like, my true hopes and dreams, the ones I will actually do something about. I’ve journaled and blogged about this before. I think about it frequently. What do I want out of life?

Yesterday, I landed on something that felt true. I thought, what do I want, deep down, that I can start realizing today? And what I want is to do a good job at my job, to save more money than we spend so we can retire early, and to have a low-stress, low-maintenance life: I want balance between a rewarding work-life and time to hang out with my family, paddleboard, read, blog, soak up sunshine.

I always think dreams have to be some big future aspiration, like Be a Writer or Be an Editor, or move to Costa Rica to surf. And those are fun to think about. But they’re not passionate dreams that I plan to make changes in my life today, right now, to realize.

Those dreams are too far away or require that I sacrifice the things I mentioned above. I’m not even sure I want them. I get to write and edit in the job I have, and now that travel is starting to become a possibility again, we can get to the ocean on weekends and vacations until the day that we can move closer to the beach. I’ve got lots of stuff I want to do before I die, but those things are future plans, not necessarily deep, identity aspirations.

My right now, today dreams are more boring than those big change-my-life dreams, and I think that’s why I always think they don’t count. They seem like they’re not enough. But they’re what I want, and they’re simple, and they’re achievable: do a good job at my job, save money to retire early, and live a low-stress, low-maintenance life. I can make those come true right now.