I received a package today that included a yoga towel that had "Dream Big" in big, cursive letters at the bottom. Typically, I would jump for joy to have a towel to go with my oh-so-precious yoga mat, but today, I just rolled my eyes and laughed out loud.

I decided this week to take "dream" out of my vocabulary. Naturally, this towel comes in the mail.

My decision was influenced by listening to "Year of Yes" by Shonda Rhimes, a truly, spectacular doer. I want to be a doer, too, which is exponentially difficult if you get caught up in dreaming. "Dream" is just a verb for thinking about what you want to do.

All throughout my life, I have been the queenof dreaming. As I write books and poems, I am constantly dreaming of new worlds and new people to fill them. When I dream up those worlds, I write them down, but that is not what I did in the past. I would maybe write down a summary and tuck it away, dreaming that one day I would find it when I was a best-selling author, and turn it into another phenomenal story.

See what I did there?

I put it away dreaming that something would happen with it later, instead of taking hold of the story I came up with and writing it on the spot. Dreaming is the same as thinking. It's awesome! I want to support you in turning your dream into a reality. The struggle is when we get so caught up in the dream– so caught up in the future, we forget that we need to do things to get there. Futuristic is one of my strengths from StrengthsFinder, so you can see how I have lived a lot of my life dreaming instead of doing.

Back in first grade, we went around the room and shared what we wanted to be when we grew up. I sat at my table and listened as everyone was sharing. "Doctor!" "Astronaut!" "Veterinarian!" my peers called out. When it was my turn, I proudly said, "I want to be a Princess!" and everyone laughed. My teacher encouraged me that it was a great job to work towards, but the chuckling is in the back of my head forever as a reminder that people will not always approve of your dreams, or worse– people may think that you can't achieve them.

I'm still not a princess, but I'm also not pursuing it either. I mean, I'm single, so if you're a prince and want to treat a girl to dinner, I'm not against it.

Addressing the struggles of people not believing you can achieve your dreams will be a different article in and of itself, because I could talk about how to brush off the haters for hours. Here's what you should know:

Dreams can change, and even plans can change, but you will still be doing something, so why not make it one of the things you've been dreaming about?

Just because I'm taking "dream" out of my vocabulary for a while doesn't mean you need to, as well. You should support others' dreams, including yours. I would challenge you (and myself) to hold people accountable for their dreams. It doesn't hurt to ask what a person is doing to achieve what they want.

I told one girl in undergrad that I was trying to learn Italian, and nearly every time I run into her, even after we have graduated she asks, "How's the Italian coming?" My answer is always something like, "It will come along some day." This person I randomly speak to holds me accountable of something I told her I wanted to do nearly four years ago. Isn't that amazing? What kind of world would we live in if we all held each other accountable for our dreams instead of saying, "That's nice." and continuing our conversation?

Because we don't live in a perfect world where everyone holds us accountable, at some point in our lives we need to start planning, and doing and not just dreaming.

Yesterday, I got back from one of the most relaxing and rejuvenating places on the planet. I will take that statement to my grave. After a game of wallyball, this kind man and I were talking about the plans I had for my future. I vaguely mentioned wanting to be at this place in Tucson more than once a year. He said, "It's a beautiful thing to be so young where you can make decisions like that." This statement rocked me to my core.

I went back to my room and wrote down something I was going to do. "I will own a house and/or work here within five years." I signed it and dated it, making a commitment to myself. I am going to do this for myself.

When you step back and look at the big picture, how often do you commit to your dreams? I am great at committing time to different programs and events. I'm currently in the middle of a two year commitment and looking to join a one year commitment after this year. I've been slowly realizing over the past week that I commit to a lot of things, but I don't commit to things I want to do for myself. I want to start running, cooking healthy meals, and keeping my space organized. These are all dreams I have had for myself since starting college, but I've never committed to them like I do for programs and jobs.

Life is too unpredictable to sit around and wait for your dreams to come true. The best way I'm learning to turn my dreams into plans of action is to write them down with a time limit, date them, sign them, and then brainstorm how to get there. Make sure you are taking active measures to make sure you are doing something you truly want to do.