In our ‘Dare to Dream’ series, the team of the San Diego Writers Festival invites you on a journey. Hear what inspires us, why we put on the festival, what we hope attendees will experience, why we connect dreaming with hope and intentions, and what nudges our souls when we ‘Dare to Dream’.
Stacey Ebert
Fun Fact: I met my husband on a travel tour in New Zealand. We had our first ‘official’ date in Hong Kong, and took a ten-month honeymoon to chase the sun around the globe.
As a young child I dreamed of living on a beach. Then I dreamed of traveling internationally. Then I dreamed of moving to San Diego, California. Today, new dreams flood my vision ever shapeshifting leading me on new journeys. Sometimes dreams nudge you in directions you don’t even know you wish. Sometimes dreams steer you towards something that others deem out of reach but you know in your heart is meant for you and you must, with every fiber of your being, head in that direction. When you dare to let them in, what’s your dream?
As an educator, I always found it curious that reading, writing, and ‘rithmatic were center stage yet the facets that make us who we are rarely given time and space to breathe. Once high school curriculum takes over, the arts seem to be the only space where creativity is not only considered important and nurtured, but expressing it vital to the entire thing. How would schooling be different if we taught kids to dream, allowed them the ability to share their authentic selves and not only refuse to stifle those dreams, but help them take flight? What type of adults would they become if they believed all the way through their educational journey that dreams were valid, crucial to growth, changeable at any time and that a team of hearts they can see and some they can’t are always working in their favor to gently push them along on their journey?
Dreams are made of many things. We have to feel them, seek them, create them, expand our curiosity and lens, feel safe enough and risky enough to pursue them, and trust that however they shake out, it’s better to aim in their direction than not at all. Travelers and creatives share many traits. One nudge, one image flash, one story shifts perspectives, challenges our narratives, and brings something new to fruition. It floats in, swirls around in our souls or subconscious, sometimes sits for a while taking up all the nooks and crannies of our system, and shows up with gentle pokes increasing in fervor until we pay attention. Someone tells us about a place of brilliance and wonder, intrigue appears. We get an idea – perhaps I’d love to see Orangutans in the wild, ‘hmmm’. We find out there’s a place in Kenya where you can share a breakfast table with giraffes – we research. What if we traded in comfort for a rugged backpacking adventure with only the first destination booked? A twinge of fascination grows. Tingles of excitement flourish and dreams, the kinds that change the directions of our lives are born.
Do we ignore the whispers from deep in our soul or the tickles from our imagination? Do we push them aside, try to quiet their voices, or give them the mic and take the leap with them believing in those dreams as much as they believe in us? The next steps are ours to take.
Disney’s The Greatest Showman, embodies this story. A creative believes in a dream and finds a way to curate a life that brings it into vision. A full throttled approach to life in living color, one that began in the heart of a young child and is fulfilled by an adult with a youthful spirit. Perhaps we don’t all sing it from a rooftop draped in colorful cloth, but it’s there. In thousands of moments, glimpses, from start to finish. When you give your dreams a chance at sunlight, what world will you create?
The San Diego Writers Festival is filled with humans working on their dreams, and designed by those who believe strongly in helping to make those dreams come true. Every writer’s story began with a dream. No matter the stumbles, struggles, obstacles, or length of journey, each curious artist shows up with a powerful spiritual pull to put something in their heart onto paper and share it with the world. The time is now. Give your dreams a chance to dance. Will you join us?
‘A Million Dreams’ – The Greatest Showman
‘They can say, they can say it all sounds crazy
They can say, they can say I’ve lost my mind
I don’t care, I don’t care, so call me crazy
We can live in a world that we design
‘Cause every night I lie in bed
The brightest colors fill my head
A million dreams are keepin’ me awake
I think of what the world could be
A vision of the one I see
A million dreams is all it’s gonna take
Oh, a million dreams for the world we’re gonna make’
By Stacey Ebert: Writer, Event Planner, Positive Psychology Coach, Educator, and Secretary of the International Memoir Writers Association
