I’ve said it before and I will say it again:
Envisioning and believing in your dream WILL make it happen!
When I was a little girl I had a recurring dream that an “office” came down from the sky and landed in my back yard. Inside was endless supplies of paper, pens, pencils, staples, buttons to push, and phones to chat on. I can still see this magical place clearly. When someone asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, my answer was a secretary. In 1978, this was the only definition I had to fit a woman who played with pens and paper.
30 years later I know that being a secretary isn’t the game I want to play or my only choice. Throughout most of my 20s I was indeed a secretary, and a glorified and more creative version of one as I neared 30. But for the past 17 years I have known – and told everyone freely – that I want to be a writer. Then I moved up to become an Aspiring Writer. Eventually, in the past year I have made the final transformation to Writer. I named myself, wrote it down, and it happened.
From the moment the family leaves the house for the day I am writing. I write, therefore I am a Writer!
When I worked in a cubicle, the daily monotony and lack of creativity dragging me into despair, I would daydream about the day when I would be sitting at my own desk. In this vision everyday was different, a different project – a little art, a little design, and a lot of writing. I was busy, happily busy. And pursuing my potential.
As I write these words I can say I am living my dream. Yes, the daily drudge is still close at hand (literally: Two overflowing laundry baskets taunt me from across the room) and bills have to be paid, screaming children corralled and hair tangles combed out. But no boss is waiting for me to show up for another day of torture.
And the best part: When you commit to your dream, it commits to you.
In the year that I finally admitted I was a Writer and the six months since I left my job these are the doors that have opened (both through networking and doing nothing at all other than just being authentic and a little help from good old Serendipity):
1. Three articles published in small ‘zine
2. One article published in local paper
3. Query accepted by major magazine
4. Taught numerous workshops
5. Lined up to teach workshops and training sessions at various non-profit organizations in coming year (with a number more in the works), including one which could extend to multiple school districts
6. Asked to become a ghostwriter for a marketing company
I tell you these things not to boast. I tell you to set myself as an example of someone who has long dreamed a dream, had a Purpose, and made it a reality. Of course it takes hard work too (getting out of the house at 6am on a frosty morning in order to drive to a meeting is not fun!) but the prize is living how you want to, seizing your potential by the hand and walking down your own path to the place where the grass is greener.
I love what your saying, but how are you supposed to know what that aspiring dream is? I have a diferent idea every day. x
Think your favorite thing to do when you were a child (10 or 11 is when you are the most authentic). Or what you would do if you didn’t have to worry about money (or keeping house and kids). When you think of your ultimate day what does it include. Think of the things you are naturally talented at. What activity takes you into flow – when you loose time. The way to investigate all this is, of course, to write about it. “If I could do anything, it would be…” “When I was a child I loved to…”
Writing obviously not one of them! Shouldnt type so fast!
i will try..thankyou
You are truly my inspiration!
Thank ye!
I have to start doing this, writing in earnest about what I want. Dream a little, fantasize I will know what I want and make it happen. It’s starting to happen again (I have a job interview on Monday), but I still don’t feel “ready” because I haven’t been actively working on determining what I really want, but instead falling back on what I’m used to doing. Once upon a time I would have thought I was a WRITER, but instead chose a functional career path instead (science).
But is a scientific career REALLY what my heart wants, or just what my mind thinks it wants because I don’t feel confident doing anything else.
Kids make any kind of career decisions challenging. I think you know what I mean by that.
Ah, complicated matters to be sure.
[...] brush to discover it? (Big question! Too many tangents that could take us on.) What I know is I was born to put words down on paper and I feel as if I have no choice in that matter. I could never pick up my journal again, throw out [...]