In a world that glorifies big goals and five-year plans, it can feel like you’re falling short if you’re not constantly reaching for something massive.

But not every dream has to be bold, loud, or scalable to matter.

This short reflection invites you to embrace the beauty of small dreams – the kind that fit your life right now.

The kind that don’t demand more than you have to give.

The kind that feel soft, doable, and deeply personal.

Dreaming small isn’t settling.

It’s honoring your capacity.

And it’s always enough.

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Hey, this is It's Okay If, bite-size permission slips. I'm Matt Gilhooly and today's permission, it's okay if you let yourself dream small. We live in a world that loves big dreams. The hustle, the 10-year plan, the what's your five-figure launch goal energy. But sometimes those big dreams can feel overwhelming, heavy, out of reach. And I've had seasons where dreaming big felt exhausting.

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where I needed my dreams to be tiny, to be bite-sized, manageable, something I could hold without getting crushed. Like giving myself permission to create the LifeShift Podcast just because I wanted to have meaningful conversations, not to become a chart-topping media empire, just to connect, to create. That was my small dream. And honestly, it's become one of the most meaningful things I've ever done.

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So if today your big dreams feel like too much, and you need to scale them down to something softer, more doable, more human, that is okay. Dreaming small isn't settling, it's meeting yourself where you are.

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Small dreams still matter. They're still yours. They're still enough. So if you're up for it, tell yourself, I give myself permission to dream small, to let my dreams fit my life right now, and to let that be enough. That's your permission slip, friend. Tuck it in your pocket, and I'll see you next time.