On Dreaming Again

Dear July,

I hope you are always brave enough to dream.

All my life, I've been told that I live in the clouds, in the stars, or underwater with the mermaids of Atlantica... I guess there is a reason The Little Mermaid has always been my favorite fairytale.

I was told that I needed to be more realistic.

That this world wasn't made for dreamers.

To come back down to earth.

But growing up, I didn't know how not to dream when I had examples all around me.

Martin Luther King Jr.'s I Have a Dream speech was something I memorized fully in the fifth grade.

My mom dreaming of becoming a successful business owner, and then surpassing that goal, was the example I had growing up.

Curiosity, wonder, and dreaming are at the core of who I am, and it began at a young age.

I dreamed of a world that I got to create.

I dreamed of having a loving, healthy relationship.

I dreamed of swimming with sharks and sea turtles in the clearest water.

I dreamed of writing children's books.

I dreamed of building a brand that embraced softness, femininity, and sentimentality.

I dreamed of having many animals that I got to name and love.

And I am still dreaming of being a mom one day.

Cariño, my point is this: you are allowed to dream. Not that I need to be the one to tell you that.

But you are allowed to dream.

You're allowed to wonder. You're allowed to be creative. You're allowed to fail and dream again.

You don't even have to chase your dreams. But you can and should feel them.

You can let yourself wonder what your life might look like if you stopped worrying about whether it was realistic enough.

You can imagine something beautiful before you know how you'll get there.

You can hold a little piece of your future in your hands and simply say, I hope.

I think we spend so much of our lives being told to come back down to earth that we forget there is nothing wrong with looking up.

So, in a world that supposedly tells you to be more realistic, I hope you dream instead.

Dream wildly. Dream softly. Dream again.

And if someone tells you that you live in the clouds, maybe you can smile and remind them that the view is beautiful up here.

con amor,

Chalise