Lesson 2 To Dream

I felt really overwhelmed this week over the reading assignments. I was overwhelmed because I didn't feel like I had the opportunity to absorb everything.  When I read something great (and all of the reading felt so great) I want to read it over or listen to it. So, now I have a new goal to read first and then listen to the audio version of what I read. I could probably listen to Randy Pausch's last lecture over and over again. I wanted to read Launching Leaders repeatedly and it was challenging because my children were demanding lunch, haha!

I think that Randy Pausch was able to achieve his childhood dreams because he was a dreamer.  In addition to being a dreamer, he was a doer. He didn't stop when he hit the brick wall.

Yes, dreaming is so important!  I think it can inspire a person to be positive and push forward. When I was a child my parents said I was often in my own little world. I had an active imagination (I still do) and I truly think it has influenced the creative side of my life. I grew up in the rural state of Wyoming. My parents had a large property with several fields for our horses alone. Why? Rodeo- the name of the game. My Dad claims he always does his best thinking on the back of a horse. I agree.  I had the opportunity to listen to my dad, dream my own dreams, and experience the beauty the surrounding land had to offer on the back of a horse. When I wasn't riding (I didn't ride as often as I should have), I played outside at my Mother's insistence. My sisters and I played hard and that gave way to imagination and dreams.  When I got a little older, I would sit outside and devour books-during the summer of course. I read LM Montgomery, American Girl, and every single Nancy Drew book I could get my hands on. I look back on those moments and realize that I was blessed with an amazing childhood. I have had failures and successes and I feel like my drive was established at a young age because I was encouraged to work with my imagination instead of against it.

A childhood dream of mine was to be a writer. I felt for a long time that I had to make one decision. I could only be one thing. I couldn't do anything else. People found their passion and did that alone. I learned in college that I simply had a variety of interests and talents. It wasn't a bad thing. Each talent I have explored has influenced where I am at today and I feel it has a purpose.  Jeffrey Thompson's talk only reaffirmed this idea. I went to cosmetology school and fed a part of my creative side. I was self-employed. I had some failures and successes along the way. In the back of my mind, however, there was always a voice whispering that I had other things to do and that all of what I was doing would work for my good. I moved home and set up shop at a salon while I dug through local genealogy records, rekindled family relationships, and read. I realized I was being prepared to achieve this goal in a way I hadn't anticipated. So yes, I do believe that I can achieve this dream.  I don't know if I will ever get beyond self-publishing or even if I want to get it published, but there is a drive in me to finish what I started and achieve a goal I set for myself when I learned how to read.