When Your Dreams Feel Impossible
Jan 15, 2025
I’ve reached that time of year again. I call this The Impossible Time. It doesn’t only happen now, but right now it feels particularly strong—it has come into my awareness with beautiful clarity.
I’ve identified what I want. I dared to go deep within myself and connect to my deepest wishes for the year. I created my Heartfelt Wish List. If you haven’t done yours yet and would like support, I recommend The Gently Rebellious One Minute Journal to guide you.
I’ve also chosen my Word of the Year—the essence of what I deeply, truly, and courageously want 2025 to feel like for me. From there, I created this month’s Heartfelt Priority List—the timely, most important things to prioritise right now. And I distilled that further into a smaller Heartfelt Priority List for the week.
I’m practicing my new One Minute Morning practice to reconnect with the feeling I wish to carry through my day. It’s helping me stay focused on what matters most, regardless of the urgent and important distractions that bombard me as soon as I wake up.
When It Feels Impossible
And then, it all suddenly felt too much. My dreams and desires for 2025 started to feel impossible. I felt disconnected from them. Overwhelm shouted its temptations in my face: You need to do all of these things to achieve all those impossible dreams.
I started trying to do everything, to push through. But then I remembered how I found my new coat.
The New Coat Story
I have one of those very expensive down coats that make you look like the Michelin Man. For a couple of years, I’ve wanted one of the new slim ones in a very specific green. But I’ve never felt like ploughing through the overwhelm of reviews—which one keeps you warmest, which is the best value, and so on. You know the drill.
Just before Christmas, we were in London for the day, and it was much colder than I’d expected. I decided that if I saw one of those coats for about £15, I would buy it. It was just a thought, a wish—a very specific wish. Seriously impossible!
We walked past an outdoor shop, and I decided to pop in on the off chance they had what I was looking for, with no expectation or attachment to the outcome.
There were rows and rows of exactly the coats I’d been wanting, in a beautiful array of colours—including the exact green. They were all reduced to £39.99, which is a good price, but not what I wanted. I didn’t need the coat—I wanted a specific coat, in a specific colour, at a specific price.
Suddenly, one coat appeared amongst the green coats, and it was priced at £14.97. It was the wrong size but looked like the right size. I tried it on, and it fit.
I bought it. I was warm for the rest of the day and glowing with delight at having found my impossible coat.
When I reflect on this story, I can think of many more examples. I expect you can too.
Times when things were way easier than expected. When the right words, the right people, and the right timing all came together magically. These moments remind me of something I often tell my clients:
Trust there’s always an easier way—even when you can’t see one.
Trusting the Easier Way
When your Heartfelt Wish List feels impossible, that’s just useful information. It’s a sign that you’re not allowing the easier way to unfold. Instead of choosing to push through overwhelm into exhaustion, I invite you (and myself) to pause and trust. Trust that there’s an easier way—one just outside your awareness but absolutely there. With hindsight, you’ll see it clearly. Why wait for hindsight?
We don’t need to fight overwhelm. We need to recognise it as a signal—a gentle nudge to pause and trust in the possibility of ease.
So, as we step into 2025 together, if you’re feeling like your dreams are impossible, I invite you to embrace this moment not as a barrier but as a reminder. A reminder to trust the process, stay connected to your Heartfelt Wish List and allow the easier way to unfold. It’s already on its way.