Monday, November 23, 2009

Dream Big

I've never really known what I wanted to do with my life, aside from wanting to be a mother. I've always known that it would happen for me, but I never knew it would take so long. In the meantime, I still don't really have a clue as to what I will do. I just do the best I can with what I have. I have a college degree and I have years of experience as a secretary/administrative assistant and I enjoy that work. It's good, solid work (when I actually can get hired) and I generally don't dread the week. But I am certainly not passionate about it. I don't look to file things in my spare time and I don't dream of the excitement of scheduling meetings and transcribing legal documents. I am passionate about art. I am passionate about creating things. I am passionate about taking something and turning it into something else, something better, something useful.

I found this quote* from Danica Patrick (a famous race-car driver):

Set your sights as far out as you can dream, then as you grow up you will have a solid goal that will guide you up the ladder of success. Find something that you love to do and you are good at, and make a career of it. I believe that the way you get to the top is to have such a passion for something that you are willing to do anything. It's a tough road, and if you don't have the heart and desire, then you'll be tempted to give up along the way. The only difference between one person and the next is how bad you want it.

My first thought when I read this was about the "as you grow up" part. I think there are several points in our lives where it would be easy to label yourself as "grown up." You could stop and be happy with where you are and what you are doing. Maybe you achieved your dream and now you are living it. I think my struggle comes in that I don't really believe we stop growing up and I don't really believe in having one dream. There is always something to build on, something to improve upon. If you achieve one dream, who says you can't start pursuing another? My ultimate goal in this life is to be happy. I don't want to waste my time doing anything that takes away from my happiness. I want to find a way to turn the things I'm passionate about into a career, something I can do that will make me truly happy, something that I can do while I am working in an office (secretary by day, crafting extraordinaire by night!), and most importantly, something I will be proud to share with my children.

The key is to not let anything stand in your way. Don't get discouraged if people aren't supportive, just prove those people wrong. If you want it bad enough and if you work hard enough, as long as you are pursuing the good things that make you happy, then you will be successful and you can do it time and time again.

*Taken from Exactly As I Am by Shaun Robinson

2 comments:

mkgs said...

For some people, a big obstacle in the way of living their dreams is that they don't think what they want to do counts as a REAL job. This is especially true with people like us whose interests are in the humanities, in the artsy, creative type stuff. (I don't think this is the case with you, Lindsey, because I've seen you use your creativity in productive ways already.) But people who like to play music often think that it's not practical to try and do it for a living, since they aren't likely to become rockstars; people who draw or paint or write often relegate their talents to hobbies, thinking that they have to have a REAL job to support them, when instead they could be using those talents to make a living. Our society has a lot of limiting beliefs about jobs and careers, and it's hard for many people to imagine that they can do something they WANT to do. There is no reason why we shouldn't enjoy and love our jobs, instead of just tolerating them--it's just that we need to have enough confidence in ourselves and in our abilities, so that we stop selling ourselves short and accepting less than we could (and deserve to) have.

annie (the annilygreen one) said...

sorry i'm commenting a million years after you wrote this, but i think you're so right. we need to think of our lives in seasons...not so much in terms of "now i've arrived where i set out to go" because i don't think that happens. we're just working and progressing through what's happening right now based on the choices we made to get here.