These Dreams

A central theme that has seemed to be occurring these past couple of weeks has been dreams. Not the kind that you wake up and wonder what in the world you ate before to have such crazy things go through your head, but the ones for your future. Remember before we turned into old boring adults when we had dreams for our futures? Things we wanted to do that we were passionate about. Maybe a job, a trip you wanted to take, the type of family you wanted to have. Over the years it seems we have all done the "responsible thing" and settle into jobs or situations that just made sense or fit into the norm. Why?

What did you want to be when you grew up? I know I changed my mind it seemed a thousand times in college, but not really for the right reasons. When I was a little girl, I wanted my job to be a teacher or an author. I love to learn and I love to teach and I love to write, I always have. I started my teaching degree, but didn't finish because I missed the timing and it would have been a whole year before the classes I needed would be offered again. I felt like I needed to graduate and didn't want to wait, and I couldn't afford to go to school another year! So, I got my Biology degree and was 4 classes short of my teaching certification, always saying I could go back.

I did the sensible thing. Got a good job with my degree, did all the right things, moved up the ladder, never went back. I made it work for me. I was lucky, with my position, I had the opportunity to teach and mentor, so it filled that void.

Listening to close friends this week, I cannot help but think we've all had this on our minds lately. Whether or not we all realized it, we've all been talking about our dreams for our lives....things we want to change, what we would do different, what we are going to do with our futures.....it's fun to sit and let your mind wonder to the "what ifs".

And not just about jobs, about our families too. Some people know they never want to have kids. I always knew I wanted to have children young and have one of those marriages where I am still completely in love with my husband after 50 years of marriage (7 years and counting!) I am most inspired by listening to dreams for our families. Isn't it funny when you think about it, how we only set limits on ourselves? We feel like our kids can do anything, we feel like our families can do everything. What happened to feeling that way about ourselves individually? What are we teaching our next generation about self esteem and believing you can change any situation you are in? Do we teach them to settle because one day it may all pay off? Or do we get down and figure out what makes us tick and will make a difference? Do you remember what your real passion is? Are you brave enough to go for it or have you set an age limit on yourself like the rest of us?

Pay attention to your dreams....and stay posted for mine.