Are there things you’ve always wanted to do, but never gave yourself an opportunity to do? Maybe you dismissed these things as not being that important because they did not make much sense or because they had nothing to do with your career.

What are the things you’ve always wanted to do but never gave them much time or thought? These could be from your bucket list, new year’s resolutions, or random thoughts related to “if I didn’t have to worry about money, I would…”

What are they? List them now.

I want you to give these thoughts some room in your mind. You don’t have to go after these right this second, but I want you to let them wander around in your mind rather than burying them or letting them go. Explore the possibility that these things may happen for you.

My “What I Always Wanted To Do” Fantasy Came True!

I’m encouraging you to do this exercise because one of my long-term fantasies has just come true for me!

For as long as I can remember, I’ve written new year’s resolutions that included a laundry list of items — too many to accomplish in any given year. I used to get discouraged for not achieving them, but now I look at these lists as possibilities.

This year, I created a list on my birthday too. Rather than calling it a list of “resolutions,” which always makes me feel a twinge of guilt if I don’t accomplish the entire list (or any of the list), I decided to call it “Gifts To Myself at Age ____ (fill in your age).”

I listed all the things I wanted to “gift” myself this year. Rather than feeling obligated (as I do with resolutions), I felt privileged to be receiving all these wonderful gifts, whether or not they came. I read the list of items I was giving myself and basked in the wonderful feeling of being able to receive all these gifts.

One of the items on the list this year said: Learn healthy gourmet cooking

I had no idea how I was going to learn healthy gourmet cooking and where I would find the time to do this, but it didn’t matter. I just decided to give these gifts to myself internally, and I went on my merry way. I randomly thought about wanting to learn healthy gourmet cooking and entertained the thought about taking some cooking classes at the Natural Gourmet Institute, a place I had been randomly looking at for about 4 years. I wanted to be competent in the kitchen beyond the basics.

A month later, my husband mentions to me that the Natural Gourmet Institute is having an open house. I hadn’t been considering the chef training program, but going to an open house couldn’t hurt. I had no intention of becoming a chef… I just wanted to learn gourmet healthy cooking so that I could cook delicious meals at home for my family.

I went to the open house and as the evening went on, my heart started to sing! Really! My heart was beating like it would beat when you meet a loved one. I felt like I was in the right place with the right people. I loved the feeling.

I went home and decided that I was going to apply for the chef training program because this random thought of “learning healthy gourmet cooking” had been on my new year’s resolutions since I was a teenager. Somehow, I hadn’t really noticed it among the list of all the other things I wanted to do, and it was always pushed to the bottom.

This year, it was moved to the top of my list as I struggled with trying to find healthy food for my baby to eat. She adamantly refuses all vegetables and fervently picks them out. She has a gourmet palate and will not eat anything that tastes bland. I had to find a better way to make meal times more pleasant.

I applied and was accepted! It all happened so fast!

This week, I started my first week of culinary school at the Natural Gourmet Institute, and I have to say, I haven’t been happier! My heart is singing, I feel so great, and all of a sudden, everything that was in need of my attention is finally getting it and moving forward! Any heaviness from my life has been lifted and I feel like I’m on my way to aligning my values with my lifestyle and my career.

Even though I did not see myself being a chef before I went, I can completely see it now! Sometimes we need to immerse ourselves in something we love before we can see it as a possibility. When we’re too far removed from it, it seems strange, and not possible, or even impractical.

Moral of the story: When you do what makes your heart sing, everything in your life comes together beautifully!

When you do what you love, you are energized by your happiness, and then all parts of your life come to match your happy state. There is a ripple effect on the rest of your life when you give yourself the time and/or money to do the things you love.

Take a look at your list, and see what you have always wanted to do. What things would you like to do in the next 12 months?

Give yourself the permission and opportunity to explore these things. Try them out. You might be surprised at how easily they can come into your life if you just explore the possibility. Testing them out will give you a sense of whether these things really fuel you or not.

Fantasies are only fantasies because we don’t see how it can fit into our life in this moment, but the truth is… anything is possible! So, throw them all out there. Why not? Isn’t it worth living out the things we’ve always wanted to do?

What are some of your “always wanted to do” items? I’d love to hear about them! May all of your “fantasy” dreams come true for you, no matter how big or small they are!