Do you want to give more structure and attention to your dreams? Are you tired of always waiting for things to happen? Have you said for more than a year or two that you’ll “go to Paris” when there is more money in the bank? Have you constantly been looking at your bank account in frustration and anger? Do you dream of marrying rich so that you just don’t have to deal with the ins and outs of running a successful business? Have you questioned all of the choices that you have made and worry that you are too far gone to save?

It’s time to ask your dreams out on a date. You know how most relationships thrive when we consistently give them a date night once a week? Well, our dreams do too. Finding ways to liberate your dreams and make them actually happen gives you the momentum to keep doing it again and again and again. And that’s only the beginning!

Here is the thing about dreams—once yours come true, it opens the space for you to help create the possibilities in others for theirs to come true too, and that, my friend, is how the world goes round. Each of us embracing the bravery and courage to fight our demons (demons of scarcity, lack, not being enough, self doubt, and more)—winning the battle, and then teaching others to do the same.

A year ago, I took my 70-year-old mother on her VERY FIRST trip out of the United States. My baby sis tagged along too. Here they are after clearing customs in Paris with their very first stamps in their brand new passports.

It was, to date, probably the best memory I have with my mother and sister.

To show her the Eiffel Tower

To watch her eat her first French pastry.

To take her through Anne Frank’s house in Amsterdam. To watch her see the paintings of Vermeer in Delft. To have our very own tea party in London. To visit the house of C.S. Lewis and Jane Austen around England.

And finally, to go to Wales and find the house where my great-great grandmother ran away with her sister (we even got to see the window where they crawled out in the middle of the night). The two young teens stole a small boat to get to the big city, and bought passage space on a big steamer headed to America. My Great-Great Gran definitely believed in the American Dream and I do too, more than ever it is easier to be all that you want and to have and experience all that you desire.

My mother’s greatest wish was to sit in the church where all the generations of her family had attended church for so many years. This photo is my favorite of my mother.

She didn’t know I was taking it. She didn’t know anything but the present moment of having her dream realized.

I printed out this photo for the members of my family and we call it the “Dream Come True” photo. It reminds me that no matter how old we are, no matter what life has thrown at us, we are capable of making our dreams come true—even if we need a little help to get there.

For me, as my dreams of building a successful destination photography business have been realized, I have found some of my greatest joys in helping my family, friends, and people I work with through coaching and workshops to discover their dreams and create THE PATH for making them a reality. In fact, I believe in it so much, it’s what I named my entire workshop series after! (@thepathworkshops)

My dreams, whether it means paying for a trip for my mom to go to France, England and Wales or starting a college education fund for my nieces, or even just being able to take all of my family out to a fancy restaurant for dinner with out breaking the bank are of upmost importance to me. I thrive on making them come true.

I know that my success, my ability to bring in wealth and abundance, has a positive effect on all those around me. Life is so short. Life is so precious. Life is too short not to see my mom eat sticky toffee pudding in Oxford! Don’t you agree?

What is one SMALL dream you could make come true today, right now. If one of them is to go to Paris (that was a huge one for me that I had all during my childhood and teenage years and I moved to Paris 7 days after my 20th birthday!) –if one of them is to go to Paris, then I suggest buying a guide book and planning out your course of action for your whirlwind week there while you sip a cafe or eat a french patisserie in a local French inspired restaurant or cafe (most cities have them!). Dating your dreams, courting them, loving them, is how you make them grow into a full time, healthy, sustainable relationship.