Dreams

I think a lot about the future.  And I am convinced that it is important to have goals.  Have them and also be intimately familiar with the plan that will get you to those goals.  My future includes a life without debt.  No student loan payment, no mortgage payment, paid for cars and plenty in savings.  This future will enable me to travel.  Extensively.  GJS and I want to travel annually and REALLY travel every five years.  Our 5 year anniversary is supposed to come with a 3 week trip to France.  5 years later we'll either go for an extended trip to Greece or New Zealand.  We talk about these dreams frequently.  They give me energy.  They give me hope.  But the dreaming doesn't make these trips a reality. 

As one of my favorite fictional characters put it, "It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live." ~Albus Dumbledore

 If I get too caught up in what I'll have when this debt struggle is over, I might not ever make it.  I may become discouraged, or complacent or simply make these goals an idol in my life.  I don't want to take this life for granted.  There is so much to enjoy now.  Things that don't cost a dime.  Hopefully, I can find the right balance between dreaming of the future and living in the present.