Imagine everything you ever wanted

I have on my desk a notepad, a gift from a friend; on each page is the prompt: “imagine everything you ever wanted below”. I have not written anything on the notepad.

Ashley C. Ford, who is wise and wonderful, posed a question: “Why was so much of my foundational learning meant to teach me how to stifle myself or make myself smaller?”

And before that: “You know what happens when you’re too scared to dream big? Or when the circumstances of your life limit your imagination? By the time someone finally asks you what you want, you have no idea how to answer that question.”

I have no idea what everything I ever wanted might be. And for so long I have barely dared to ask the question.

Here is Ashley, again: “You have to practice knowing what you want, just like you have to practice anything else. Can you describe your wildest dreams to someone else? Can you even describe them to yourself? Practice now. Why not?”