This isn't a book about thinking differently. It's a book about becoming different—
and then acting like it.
What's Inside This Book
In My Dream Life walks you through three essential shifts: First, we examine where you are—the struggle that feels normal, the fears that masquerade as wisdom, the patterns you didn't choose but have accepted. Then, we reimagine where you're going—not through rose-tinted fantasy, but through a clear-eyed vision of who you're becoming and what you're capable of. Finally, we get practical: how to nurture that vision, protect it from self-sabotage, and actually live it.
Why This Approach Works
Most self-help books give you inspiration or theory. This one gives you both, plus the tools to actually use them. You'll find frameworks for turning fear into power. You'll work through exercises that expose your limiting beliefs. You'll read real stories—about engineering careers and job losses and T-Rex workouts and truth-telling mothers—that show what this looks like in actual human life. Because here's the thing: you don't need another guru telling you that change is possible. You need proof that it's possible for people like you, and you need to know exactly what to do on Monday morning when the fear shows up again.
Who This Is For
This book is for anyone who feels like they're waiting for permission to live. Whether you're stuck in a career that doesn't fit, paralyzed by too many choices, trapped by what you think you're supposed to want, or simply numb to the life you're actually living—this is for you. It speaks especially to ambitious people, overthinkers, perfectionists, and anyone who's ever thought, "Everything looks good on paper, so why don't I feel alive?" If you've lost something (a job, a relationship, an identity, a dream) and wonder if there's a path forward, or if you're afraid to lose something and that fear is keeping you small, you'll find yourself in these pages.
I didn’t write this book because I had everything figured out. I wrote it because I spent years carrying responsibility, ambition, and expectations—while quietly struggling to feel like I was actually living. In 2007, I started taking notes, reading everything I could find, trying to understand why I felt so stuck when everything looked fine on paper.
Over the next two years, I lost my job—and then my house. Losing my job pushed me back to school for graphic design, adding to my computer science background and chasing something I’d always wanted. But losing my house? Despite the pain, it changed me. It stripped away who I thought I was supposed to be and revealed what actually mattered.
I kept writing. I kept taking notes—not because I had the answers, but because I was living the questions.
Fifteen years later, it finally feels complete. In My Dream Life is everything I learned about stopping the struggle, turning fear into fuel, and realizing that sometimes losing what you thought you needed is exactly what frees you to chase what you actually want.
I’m a technologist, creator, and storyteller who learned the hard way that your dream life doesn’t require permission or perfect circumstances. If you’re ready to stop waiting and start living, this book is for you.
Stacie Bacon
Author of In My Dream Life