Defining Exactly Your Dream Is

     How do you define exactly what it is you want to do with your life, I had a dream to be a mother, and I achieved that for the last 22 years and more I have been a mother. I also had a dream to attend College and I am, and my children have graduated High School and are both attending College as well. At first when I began to attend College I thought I wanted to teach English, then it became History, then it became something else all of these things interested me but it wasn't what I was passionate about. I have discovered it is important to follow what your passionate about plain and simple.

      But what if I fail often runs through my mind and then I am reminded of what one particularly famous basketball player said:  "If you're trying to achieve, there will be roadblocks. I've had them; everybody has had them. But obstacles don't have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don't turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it. Michael Jordan" and I remember that it is the practice, the attempts, the failures that make the successes so much more important. I am not talking about getting 'A's on your papers, I am talking about those successes that you just can't help but squeal, whoop, jump up and down, and holler about. Those emotions are not emotions that you deal with every day, because on a daily basis we are all doing what we need to do to maintain our lives. We get into a rut, we do the same thing day in and day out and we wonder why our dreams are not coming about. 

      So I started to work on my dream, and in the process of working on my dream I have organized, de-cluttered and obtained certain tools that I required. Now what do I do, well I belong to several groups that teach various methods of what I enjoy doing and I have been participating in several challenges. What good are these challenges, well they teach you various different techniques for one thing and they also keep you putting yourself out there. Research what it is you wish to do, don't just surf the internet actually go out and look at how other people are doing what you want to do. Get involved on the lowest level if that is the only way in. Be willing to work for what you want, be willing to work at what you want, and be willing to step up to the opportunity when it arrives. Don't close your eyes and pray for it to happen, because you just might miss the opportunity.

      Although my dream is not completely defined, I have a general idea of what I wish to do and that is to create artwork be it in the form of a quilt, a wall hanging, a framed picture, an outfit, or a dish of food. I wish to transform these ideas and images that are in my mind and create a tangible, real object. All to often, what others have said in regards to my work or what they haven't said has created a block or wall for me, as well as, encouraged me to keep plugging away at it. Not everyone will like what I do, that includes those closest to me, family, friends their values, their belief system may not match mine. I know that for many years I was told I could do or be anything I wanted and yet when I did, those same people refused to look at or acknowledge what I had worked so hard at because the subject matter was either something they weren't interested in or they were uncomfortable with it.

Define what your dream is for yourself, research what it takes to achieve your dream, practice, practice, practice and with this method of defining and refining you will achieve your dream. It takes work and dedication, setting goals and taking steps to insure that your living your dream.

Don't enslave yourself to a life that doesn't fulfill your dreams, if you live your life to achieve the expectations of what others place on you, then you will have achieved nothing of your own. You will only have resided in this world. Don't sell yourself short before you have given yourself a chance.