With a hot pink plastic brick-like walkie-talkie in hand, I pedaled feverishly down the street, my little sister behind me with her matching unit. Pedaling toward our fort, one fast push after another, putting some space in between so we could talk on the walkie. My sister’s voice follows a *scratch* “are you almost there, over” *scratch* “approaching the site, over” *scratch* “roger” *scratch* “Who’s Roger? I’m Princess Peach!” and with that and a giggle, I threw both hands in the air, balancing on the bike, the wind blowing through my hair…freedom.

When we were kids, we dreamed big dreams, dreams that had a success rate somewhere between improbable and impossible, but we never thought about measuring those grand ideas. If we could dream it, it was possible. You know, like becoming a princess that could twirl in a dress while slaying dragons and ruling a kingdom… all at the same time.  At some point between childhood and adulthood, those childhood dreams turned into the American dream – the one we are taught that everyone chases and we are corralled into – go to college, get a career, marry your high school sweetheart, get a house, have 2.2 kids… and then what? No one tells us the “then what”. The dream just stops. Years go by, and we forget how to dream. So now life seems to go by in a whirl, and we don’t know what happened to it, days turn into weeks turn into months turn into years. And this year we are doing the same thing we did last year – get up, go to work, come home, eat dinner, go to bed, rinse, repeat. Work is probably something we feel like we have to do, it’s not the dream job we had when we were a kid, it’s not something we enjoy doing, but hey, it pays the bills. The excitement comes in short bursts when we buy a new TV, or a new toy for the garage, but sigh, that thrill is over as soon as we realize we maxed out the credit cards to get it, and now that paycheck isn’t going as far as it once did. Financial pressures, and the economy make us fear losing our jobs, so we work even more. Stealing time away from the things we actually do enjoy, if we even remember what they were, and we only feel a little bit of life come back on the weekends. We went from dreaming to surviving. Chained to debt. Chained to a cubicle. Chained to everything we were told we should be.

But what if there was a different way? What if we opened our eyes, and let the brilliant light in. What if we came alive again? What if we remembered how to dream? What if we found that childlike wonder and curiosity about the world? What if we could somehow break those chains, and become free to live a purpose and passion filled life? Oh, the adventures we could have. The things we would see. The people we would connect with.

Freedom. Freedom from whatever it is that’s holding you back from living out your passion. Freedom to move toward a purpose filled life where you contribute more than you consume. Freedom to move from what you thought you should be to what you know you could be.

I have to believe that little girl, pedaling her heart out, had a wisdom this adult had forgotten – dare to dream big dreams, soar into the wind letting your two-wheeled horse carry you to new adventures, explore the world with arms and heart wide open, and enjoy life with those you love. And so, Princess Peach pedals on…

*scratch* “One revolution at a time, over.”

-Georgia