I never become tired of talking about the things we dream of. Dreaming about things to come or the way we envision ourselves is vital to our foundation and maintaining ourselves as an individual. Last week we acknowledged that life does get in the way of our dreams. Growing up our choices seems limitless then we become adults with responsibilities and discover it’s not all that we thought it would be. The freedom is great but the margin for error closes quickly. We leave High School and enter a life of true responsibility. As our responsibilities increase our passion for pursuing our dreams slowly fade away. Then one day you wake up and the kids are bigger, your career is steady, life becomes a little more balanced and you discover the passion you had for your dreams is still within you. Where do you start? Now that you’ve lived 10 or more years in strict rules and rigid timeframes it’s time to unlearn some of what you’ve dedicated your life to; coloring inside the lines.
I use the term bittersweet often because it sums up something that’s good and not so good at the same time. I view rules as being bittersweet. We need rules to establish order. However, when too much focus is placed on rules we neglect our ability to be creative. We start seeing the glass as half empty as opposed to half full. Our optimism is replaced with pessimism, and we shift our thinking to why we “can’t” as opposed to why we “can”. We let people convince us to remain in our comfort zones though it is innate in us to venture. So, in order for us to let go, revive our creativeness and nurture what we are good at we should start by giving ourselves permission. Permission to;
- Be different!
- Have a crazy idea and treat it seriously!
- Talk about what you dream in your heart and believe in it!
- Be confident and somewhat arrogant about your natural talents!
- Invest in making your dream come true!
Let’s move forward together and shift our dreams from our heads and back into our hearts. What dreams do your heart desire? I’m listening…Holla at ya Gyrl !
Godspeed
~Latoya~
LaToya,
AMEN TO EVERYTHING!
It is wonderful to have the freedom and NERVES to do what you want to do …. even if it seems crazy to others.
My husband had been dead 7 years and it would have been our 50th anniversary. My family was HORRIFIED to know I was going through with plans for a 50th Anniversary Celebration ….. BIG TIME!
A suggestion was made by my son. Rather than have a celebration in the U.S. why not do it on my annual trip to Africa. After all, he said, it would be a real treat for those over there. GOOD IDEA! That is what I did! For the Ghana celebration there were about 20 of us. In Liberia we had planned for a maximum of 100. WRONG! Over 125 showed up because most of them remembered my husband.
There was choir music, challenging speakers, testimonies and LOTS OF FOOD! FOOD! FOOD!
Each year when I return to Liberia the talk is still about the wonderful time we had at that celebration.
A friend of mine in Louisiana enjoyed hearing about it and is planning to do the same thing. Looks like I started something! GO, GIRL!
That’s a perfect example of:
- Have a crazy idea and treat is seriously!
It’s fulfilling to release your dreams and bring them to life.
Hmmmmm….okay the kids are getting bigger, the life is pretty balanced, school is behind me, degree’s acquired, still theres an itch, still a few things in totally different directions than my 2 degree’s that I paid a hellava lot of money for. I guess that’s the part that makes me hold back a little. The dreams seem completely left field. Anyway, I started a new venture recently that I always dreamed of doing and it was a great success. It didn’t take much just me putting my name out there for a service. Now I plan on adding making that larger but something that I can maintain. I also have two other dreams that I want to pursue but they are way wilder dreams yet attainable. One I am actively working daily on and the other well lets just say I’m gonna have to do this one last. I guess in my case there’s no time like the present and if I’m going to do it, the time is now. Thanks for this blog, your gonna make my husband kill me! LOL