Dreaming Archives | West Coast Dreaming

How do I slay my goals this December?

by Nikola | Dec 15, 2018 | Dreaming

It is the middle of December, it gets darker every day and has been wet for days. The most wonderful time of the year seems to be rushing by with lightning speed, where I had sworn myself to enjoy it more this year. If you are like me, this time of year often comes with anticipated dread of rushing to get everything done and organized before the holidays; parties, that many of us have to attend through work, or our partners’ workplaces or children’s holiday recitals and concerts; planning of the meals for the holidays itself; finding the perfect gifts. It all can be very joyful and stressful at the same time. So, how to slay your goals and follow your dreams during this busy time of year?

Making time to create a plan for the holiday season or let alone the New Year may seem to be the furthest from your mind. However, this is all I have been thinking about lately.

What if I planned out the month of December and got my A-game on? Would I feel more relaxed?
What if I reviewed this past year and set goals for the next one now? Would this give me a head start to slaying my goals or even those “dreaded” resolutions?

In German, we have a saying “Gut geplant ist halb gewonnen” which translates approximately to: “Good planning is halfway to success”. And this is exactly how I think we can achieve our biggest dreams: Dream Big – Plan Carefully – Act Inspired – Live your dreams!

With this post, I wanted to give you an update or glimpse “behind the scenes” of what I’m up to, how I plan my goals, slay them and what’s in store for you:

Holiday Season

Our daughter is three years old now and it is a lot of fun to explore the holiday season and traditions with her. I am more in tune with the holiday spirit than I have been for many, many years. We have two advent calendars in our house: One hand-made one that we fill each year with little more or less healthy surprises and a playmobile-calendar one from grandma. The house is decorated in a most simplistic fashion, we light candles for dinner, sing holiday songs and read Christmas stories before bed. Experiencing this season through our daughter’s eyes makes the magic alive again. We rarely watch TV, but I think a short and traditional Christmas movie would be so much fun.

I realize now, it is up to us to make the holiday season magical. We just need to stop and do it, even if it is in baby steps. Baby steps will lead to tiny improvements, but improvements they are none the less. Enjoy.

Riding

Did I ever mention that I have been leasing a horse since the end of September? For a monthly fee, I see “my” horse Nina once or twice per week and get to ride her or work with her. When I have time, I try to help out with paddock chores. I keep telling myself, if I really want to live the horsey dream, I better not complain about doing chores. Riding is just the icing on the cake. Since the days have gotten darker in November, I have been riding every Sunday. I am so blessed to have found this family who welcomes me with open arms, shares their knowledge about horses and letting me lease Nina.

Nina, a most gorgeous black Canadian mare, is just the perfect amount of sweet and bossy/stubborn. She is challenging me, which ultimately makes me a better horsewoman. She is not particularly cuddly, but I cuddle her none the less, which she gracefully endures. Every time I am around her, I fill my bucket with so much joy and happiness. That gives me a lot of energy for other areas in my life, like my family, this blog and work.

Blogging

I have been feeling stuck lately. I am working on regularly creating meaningful content (1x/week), feeding my social media channels and driving traffic to my page, because what is a blog without an audience?

I set myself monthly and weekly goals in my bullet journal, but as I am still a rookie it is a lot to take in. Utilizing my journal helps a lot with following through with my tasks that bring me closer to my dream. However, working full time, with a considerable daily commute, family life and learning how to successfully blog, has led to feeling overwhelmed. To be honest, it did not come as a surprise to me that I feel stuck. This is part of the process of learning, growing while being challenged.

How did I get unstuck? I sat myself down and brainstormed content ideas for the rest of the year, the New Year and the direction I would like to take with this blog: inspiring you to live your dreams and achieve your goals by providing a system that keeps you organized while nurturing a positive mindset.

For December, I would like to share with you:

How to review your past year and why I think you should do it
How to plan the end of the year with daily logs and mini challenges
How to set your goals for the year ahead and stay on track; and
Ideas for New Year resolutions you will want to keep

Stay tuned!

Reading

Before I started out with West Coast Dreaming at the end of May, I had been reading lots of happy-sappy novels, just to have something heart-warming to think about before falling asleep. It was my crutch to not fall into despair. Lately, I feel I don’t need this crutch so much anymore. I still like to read these types of books from time to time, but it is not quintessential to my survival anymore. Yes, yes, I exaggerate (a lot) here.

Nowadays I find myself reading E squared, by the hilarious Pam Grout which gives you 9 Do-it-Yourself Energy Experiments that prove your thoughts create your reality.

So far I have completed two of the nine experiments and… they work! I was blown away, by how they work. I kind of knew, yet doubted it. If this of any interest of you I can share my experiences in more detail.

Music

I have turned to my all-time favourite songs, songs that I would describe as powerful and that fill me with positive energy. If you are imagining that your body is just energy vibrating on a certain frequency, then music does affect and influence you. I can feel my body and mind responding to the music.

When I am writing, or when alone in the car, I turn to them.They make everything flow easier and I imagine how things around me begin to flow. I leave most mainstream music behind – even though there is nothing wrong with it – and turn to my oldies but goldies, my favourite Hans Zimmer soundtracks and the occasional Dutch or Finnish Symphonic Metal band. Guilty!

Bullet Journal

As some of the more seasoned Bullet Journalers among you might have noticed, I am still a novice to this amazing system. I came across bullet journaling almost by accident when I started this blog and felt the need to jot down notes, achievements, and to-dos. I am amazed by how quickly you can progress with your journal and how it improves my happiness and goal slaying ability. Hahaha, this almost sounds like it should be the name of a superpower: Goal slaying ability.

With the end of the year close by, I am wondering if I should start a new book or keep going in the one that I currently have. This is where I am at: my current journal where I plan my months, weeks and days, take notes during my e-courses and sketch out post ideas. There are two more journals that I use to show you the “how-to” Bullet Journaling and “how-to” creating intricate tangle patterns. If I do start the new journal, the current one will become solely dedicated to keeping track of ideas for West Coast Dreaming. What do you think?

That was it. Now you know what I’m up to and how I slay my goals this December. Thanks for reading and let me know if you have any questions or suggestions.

Your West Coast Dreamer, Nikola

Three signs you are onto something

by Nikola | Sep 4, 2018 | Dreaming, Happiness

How to Listen to Your Gut?

You have probably heard that advice one too many times before. This is obviously one of the many things easier said than done. What I often ask myself is something along the lines: “What the heck does that mean?” or “My gut is not talking to me at all”! But all in all, there is something so fundamentally true to that statement that we should not overlook it, just because our “gut” is sometimes confused.

The more you check in with Mr. or Mrs. Gut, the easier it will become to listen to them. If it is dead silent (not necessarily a bad sign) it could be translated to “Not too sure about this one, please come again”. Eventually, if you will keep trying to listen and to follow your dreams, it will talk to you. Loud and clear.

Here are three signs how your gut might try to tell you that you are onto something:

1. The idea keeps percolating in your head

Your idea stays with you for a long period of time and you will get back to it over and over again. You will probably start feeling very excited when thinking about your idea and you will start reading about it, researching, daydreaming and talking to other people about it.

2. You see ways to achieve your goal

Another dead-on sign that you are onto something would be that you can see how you can achieve your dream. Or, you see yourself taking the necessary steps towards it.

In the case of landing one of my jobs, I did not hesitate to write my application. I was that excited about this opportunity, it almost wrote itself. I thought of easy ways to keep myself in the mind of my future employer, following up with them at the right moments, without being afraid of being cumbersome.

When I had the idea about starting this blog, I had mentally made a list of things that would need to happen for this dream to become a reality. I knew I was able to create a website and maintain it, I had an idea what to write about, I knew what I needed to learn more about and I had a pretty good idea how to find all that information.

So after percolating this idea for about six weeks, researching the topic and the technical side of things and seeing myself doing each individual task, I took the leap of faith and purchased a domain and started setting it up. I am still freaked out about it. In a very good kind of way, believe me.

3. You start telling people

You might find yourself telling people about your plan. Maybe in parts or maybe the whole idea, but you might find yourself telling your friends and/or family about bits and pieces of it just to test out your idea and hear what they might think about it. Will they be supportive of your idea? Or will they share their experience of having gone through something similar? Will they give you good ideas on how to tweak things?

Whatever you do, whatever your signs will be, your gut will tell you when you are onto something. Just trust it.

One more thing:

Don’t underestimate the power of talking about your dream.

You might be shy about it, not sure if you ready to share it with the “world”. I certainly was. What I just recently learned is the following: You need to tell people about your big dream. Or the one you are currently working on. You might be surprised on who shares in your dream, who can help you get started and who can connect you with people who are already living the dream.

If I had not opened up about wanting to get back horseback riding, I would not have had the opportunity to go with my daughter’s daycare provider. I would not have learned about the co-worker whose family owns horses might be interested in leasing one out. I would not have connected with a woman who used to train horses while both of us enjoyed a Zumba class and I would not have been told by a stranger I met walking to hold onto my dream and fulfill it.

Granted this stranger turned out to be a woman who walked her two Icelandic Horses *love* on a local trail while I was out walking the baby in the stroller. Nevertheless, I think of her often and she is an inspiration to me. So go out and talk in whatever form feels comfortable to you. Good luck.

Ideas on how to overcome these three major challenges

by Nikola | Aug 15, 2018 | Dreaming

When you think about your dream, what are the main challenges you are facing? Is it time, money or health?

Health

This would be the biggest item I would say. If you have the time, skill and money to live your dream, but are not healthy enough to do so, those assets become meaningless.

Your situation is as unique as you are. Evaluate your personal situation and see where you can find help. Some health-related challenges you might be able to overcome yourself, but many others you might not be able to do so.

For example, I was struggling with a very bad back, with arthritis pain so severe that sometimes I would not be able to get out of bed. It was debilitating. I spoke to many people, doctors and practitioners about it. What helped me, in the end, was strengthening my core by doing Pilates, changing my diet and adding supplements to my daily regime. When I was at my worst, I could not even begin to imagine that I would feel that much better as I do now. Often there is a way.

However, just as often, you need to seek help. I sought help as long as I needed to find the way that worked for me. Believe you can get better, seek help and listen to your gut.

Money

The second biggest obstacle to fulfilling your dreams is probably money because if you had enough money, you probably would also have enough money to make time for your dream.

So, yes, this is also a tricky one. Just because you want it, money will probably not rain down on you. Try to find avenues that are available to you:

How much money does it actually cost to make your dream a reality?
Can you earn more in the job you are currently in? Will this be enough?
Could you find a new job that pays more?
Can you learn more skills to get a higher-paid position?
Can you find an additional way to make more money?
If you have said no to all of those, can you tweak your dream to get even a little closer?

Let’s say your dream is to sing professionally. Could you join a choir or a band? Can you connect to someone who shares your dream and you could practice together? Or in my case, does it have to be your own horse? Could you start saving money for lessons and then find out if you could help out with chores in the barn to get the lessons cheaper? Once you have come to a step or even a few steps closer to your dream, you will connect with people that might help you along the way.

Time

Time challenge can also be a huge obstacle in your path to success.

For many parents, their day might look like this:

Get up and ready to go
Get the children fed, dressed and ready to go
Drop them off at daycare or school, drive to work.
WORK.
Drive home (prime time to figuring out what’s for dinner),
Ppick up kids from daycare or school,
Come home, make dinner,
Spend time as a family,
Help with homework,
Get them changed, bathed, teeth and hair brushed,
Read stories, say goodnight,
Clean up kitchen, make lunch and breakfast.

By that time, a lot of parents (like me) are so exhausted that they happily turn to their couches, without any energy to work out, learn, spend time with your hobby or even realize your dream. Dun, dun, Dunn.

Does this sound familiar?

I know, and I only have one. How other parents handle more than one is beyond me.

However, even with a tightly packed day, I am certain there are some things that could be tweaked to bring you more flow.

Time management, getting organized and prepared in advance are your friends.

Record where you spend your time for a few days and see how you can find room to improve.

Can you cook in batches
Get groceries delivered?
Could you get children more involved in daily chores and routines?

Get organized and prepared for the day ahead in the evening to de-stress your morning routine. The possibilities are endless.

Good luck and have fun tweaking.