It’s 3am on April 15 and I am waiting to board a flight to Rwanda. A lifelong friend and I are about to embark on a journey we have dreamt about for years: trekking into the mountains of Rwanda to see the mountain gorillas.

It was one of those dreams that had lived in our imaginations and conversations for more than a decade. Now it was becoming reality.

We live in a world obsessed with speed. We want results now and crave instant gratification. Our attention spans are officially shorter than a goldfish’s, so if you are still reading, congratulations.

We want the promotion, the fitness goal, the adventure, the business success and the breakthrough. When progress feels slow, we often abandon the dream altogether.

But big dreams take time. Often, that is exactly what makes them so special when they are realised.
I have written ‘See the Mountain Gorillas’ in my dream book every year since 2013. A dream book, in case you are wondering, is simply a place where I record my hopes and dreams for the year ahead. Some are practical. Some are wildly ambitious. Some seem almost impossible.

That is the beauty of dreaming boldly: not every dream needs to be practical. Well, maybe the ones that defy gravity should be reconsidered.

Over the years, I have learnt that if you want to keep a dream alive, you need to connect it to something deeper than achievement. When dreams are anchored in values, they outlast motivation.

The goal might be to climb a mountain. The value might be living a life of adventure.

The goal might be to run a marathon. The value might be curiosity and growth.

The goal might be to see the gorillas. The value might be curiosity, wonder and experiencing the beauty of God’s creation.

Goals have finish lines. Values do not.

This is something I explore often in my coaching work. When people discover the values that truly matter to them, something shifts. They stop chasing achievements for validation and start pursuing experiences that align with who they are.

Standing in a clearing in Rwanda, watching a massive silverback and his family interact, I noticed that their fingers looked remarkably similar to mine. The mothers gently rocked their babies. The adolescents were up to nonsense.

For a moment, the gorillas stopped being something I had travelled across Africa to see. They became something far more profound.

I realised the real gift was not crossing something off a dream list. It was being the kind of person who had remained curious enough, hopeful enough and bold enough to keep the dream alive for more than a decade.

Perhaps that’s the real Someday Shift: choosing today to live in alignment with the values that make you come alive. To stay curious. To trust that some dreams are worth waiting for. And when they finally arrive, to pause long enough to stand in wonder of God’s amazing creation.

Sarah Swainson is a speaker, coach and founder of Ordinarily Active. Through Bold Heart Coaching, she helps individuals and teams align their values with meaningful action so they can create lasting momentum in work and life.