As I sit here enjoying perfect health, sharing the sunshine with Derek, working together on a home business, I remember that just five years ago things were very different.

Weeks after finished college I completed a boot camp of sorts. It’s purpose was to prepare me to live in any conditions and survive whatever I may encounter living in the developing world.

My dream for as long as I can remember was to travel across the seas and be a volunteer in an orphanage. Every time I saw a plane I imagined myself on it on my next adventure to a country no one talked about, taking care of kids no one wanted.

And so it was, in November of 2000, my dream became reality. I moved to Tirana, Albania to volunteer at the orphanage.

I traveled to 14 other countries, but one particular place had been in my plans and five years ago I landed in Nairboi, Kenya. I was set to volunteer in a orphanage for babies with HIV.

Seven months after first landing on that beautiful continent I was invited to go on a hike with those who volunteered with me. We put in lots of miles and I returned home exhausted. That was thing I remember.

I don’t know just how much time had passed but I remember my roommate, Susanne saying she was taking me to a hospital and while I wasn’t happy about it, I didn’t have the energy to argue.

The only thing I heard the Doctor say was that I had Malaria, the most fatal strain and either my immune system would kick in or I would be dead within days.

I laid there with my eyes closed and told myself, kick in Monique, kick in! I thought about all the dreams I had made come true and the many more that I had in my heart to do. I hadn’t found my true love, my partner in life. I hadn’t built my business that would provide these kids with food, clothing, medicine and an education. I was far from finished!

Just as my dream of going overseas inspired me to get through my homesick college days and intense boot camp in Florida, my future dreams inspired me to heal over then next year.

Being in Network Marketing I often ask people why they want to start a business and I am surprised that they don’t really know.

We can overcome the most challenging circumstances, even death itself, when we have really big dreams to live for.

Are you working toward a dream that you love, that you play over and over in your mind, that you share constantly? Does it move you? Does it bring you to tears? Or is it a cookie cutter, mass-produced dream someone handed you?

Life is too short and much too sweet to live for such a dream.

“We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the Ocean. But if that drop was NOT in the Ocean, I think the Ocean would be less because of that missing drop.”

-Mother Theresa (my favorite Albanian)

Learn more about Derek and I over at http://DriveTheLine.com