Last week I spent two wonderful days in the library. Not just any library, but the Bodleian library at Oxford University, established in 1602 and home to over 12 million books. It felt like something out of Harry Potter because it actually WAS the Hogwarts library in the films. I was there working on a top secret new project which has had me up until the early hours bursting with ideas, and scribbling notes as fast as my pen will move across the paper. This is the early stages of a new dream. You know, where people ask you what you’re working on, but you know that it’s delicate, and you aren’t yet ready to share the details. And today I want to encourage you to take care with your dreams at this stage, because they are fragile.
As I shared in Freedom Seeker, hyperurl.co/a941vs
“Whether your dreams are small but beautiful, like a sliver of gold leaf, or large and lofty, like parachute silk, if you share them too early they will collapse. When a project is up and running it can be poked and prodded and generally keep its shape. It can go through various iterations, but hold together. A dream, however, is more delicate than that. Exposed too soon, to the wrong people, your big idea can shatter into fragments.
Materials scientists describe objects that break into pieces upon impact as ‘frangible’. The first time I read that word, my brain split it into ‘fragile’ and ‘tangible’, and that’s exactly what dreams are. They live in the hinterland between imagination and reality, and need coaxing to life. Too much pressure too soon and they turn to dust.
So give your dreams gentle attention. Let them know that you know they are there, and you are rooting for them. Tell them you’re curious to discover more about them. Keep them tucked in a pocket for safekeeping, only to be brought out when you have a safe place to share, inside a friendship, with a mentor, or perhaps with your trusted online community.”
In this week’s podcast I talked to someone who knows only too well the importance of protecting a big but delicate dream. After meeting her partner Tom while working a ski season in Japan in 2013, Josie Adams set up The Coffee Gondola, as a completely mobile gondola serving fine coffee in the mountains. This wasn’t just any dream. They had to find, import and convert an actual coffee gondola, learn how to become champion baristas, and navigate the path of working together in a space smaller than the average bathroom. The business began as an actual dream Josie had when she was sleeping, and has ever since gone from strength to strength.
This episode is a fascinating story for anyone who fears their dreams could be too far from reality. Listen in here, you will go away making plans and taking action!
Keep dreaming
BethXx 
Josie Adams is co-founder of The Coffee Gondola, a coffee shop in a converted ski gondola, which serves amazing lattes half way up mountains. This is a story about realising crazy dreams.
Key moments:
[2m 50s] How a random dream turned out to be the path for Josie & her partner Tom’s entrepreneurial success
[5m 0s] The realisation of seeking independence, and how a fun project turned into a money maker
[6m 0s] Josie and Tom’s personality traits and how they both compliment their business ideas
[7m 20s] How Josie took her dream and made it into an actual working reality
[9m 0s] How Josie happened upon their famous Coffee Gondola which they later turned into their new mobile cafe business
[9m 45s] Ways in which Josie kept herself motivated during the year up to when they started trading
[11m 0s] The shift that occurred when the Coffee Gondola became a serious project and Tom and Josie quit their jobs
[12m 0s] How Josie and Tom planned their launch of the Coffee Gondola at festivals
[13m 15s] What life is like waking up in the mountains every day
[14m 20s] The satisfaction Josie feels in seeing her dream come to life
[18m 10s] What it’s like for Josie working with her partner Tom so close, every single day
[20m 50s] The things Josie does outside of work to ensure a balance between work and play
[22m 20s] Why Josie runs ultra marathons as a form of meditation
[25m 30s] Josie’s definition of freedom – what feeling free means to her.
[27m 30s] The approach Josie takes in making key decisions for her life and business
[30m 30s] Josie’s tips for anyone who has a dream that feels so far from your current life
