Happy New Year! The first full week of 2017 is quickly coming to a close. This is the time many people reflect on the past year and strategize for the year to come. Dreams are sharpened and brought into focus…even if some are thought to be “pipe dreams”. What exactly are pipe dreams you ask?

Here are some facts:

• A pipe dream as defined by Webster’s Dictionary is an illusory or fantastic plan, hope, or story.
• The earliest documented case of using the term was traced back to Chicago in 1890.  The Chicago Daily Tribune used the term in an article referring to aerial navigation where they said, ““It has been regarded as a pipe-dream for a good many years.”
• The term “pipe dream” also has references to opium use – alluding to the dreams smokers of opium pipes experience. It is widely assumed that the surreal works of both Kubla Khan and Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland were greatly influenced by both author’s use of opiates.
• Rodgers and Hammerstein wrote a play entitled Pipe Dream which is “an uncommon story of love and hope” according to its synopsis.

My wish for you in this new year is that you dream big, non-drug induced, pipe dreams and don’t let the highs and lows that this new year will bring tear them apart. Dreams, including pipe dreams, are an escape to a world just waiting to happen.