HILL AIR FORCE BASE, Utah -- "I've had some really big, huge, wonderful dreams," Gillespie said. "I've had some of them come to fruition, some of them crash and burn, but like a phoenix you've got to rise up from the ashes and you need to reclaim that dream or find a new dream."

Gillespie described how she herself had to rise up from the ashes and reclaim her dreams more than once. While juggling the demands of working for the New Jersey Secretary of State, completing her doctorate at Rutgers University, and keeping in touch with her family, she found herself beginning to wear down to the point where her body refused to function.

After sending her staff home early one day, Gillespie found herself alone in her office and unable to move her body.

"My mind is racing and I'm not thinking so much, 'I wonder if I'm going to be OK,' but I was thinking, 'I've got things to do. I've got plans!'âäââ" she said as she described her frustration at not being able to continue her work for that day.

Luckily for Gillespie, her secretary had not yet gone home and happened to peek inside her office. Gillespie's sister managed to take her to a doctor, who diagnosed her with extreme exhaustion and said that her body was shutting down. The doctor also told Gillespie that she would have to take time off from work and school to recuperate.

Despite recuperation, things quickly turned from bad to worse. "The doctors told me, 'Your systems are all failing, we don't know why, we don't know what to do to fix it. You can't do anything, you're going to live on your couch, and you're going to die,'âââä" Gillespie said.

However, the doctors' diagnosis and being declared "permanently disabled" didn't stop Gillespie from continuing to dream and plan her future.

"I had people around me -- and you have people around you --- that would not let me give up," she said. "They said that that dream would still happen. You may have to shift a little, you may have to rework the way you think things are going to happen, but you can still dream."

They were right. Five years after her body shut down, Gillespie suffered a heart attack and, amazingly, was able to regain control over her body.

"Whatever was going on was reversed when I had a heart attack," she said. "Suddenly my dreams could go back online."

Through her trials, which didn't quite end after the heart attack, Gillespie learned to "be mindful about the circumstances" as she worked on building her dreams.

"Worry about this minute," she added. "If they tell you you've got six months, worry about this minute. You can worry about six months when you get there."

As soon as she was able to hop back on her feet, Gillespie started tackling her list of dreams and began writing for Wasatch Woman magazine. She also began her job at Weber State University, but most importantly, she was again able to realize her lifelong dream of working to make other people's dreams come true.

"All it takes is one person to fully recognize that you have unlimited potential and unlimited talent," Gillespie said. "That inside of you is a well with an endless reserve of greatness, kindness, excitement, energy, ambition and ability to make your dreams come true."

Still, each of us must also work hard to realize our dreams, she stressed.

"What is that burning desire you have inside of yourself?" she asked the audience. "What is it inside of you that makes your heart sing ... Whatever that is, grab it with both hands."