I was thinking tonight, “If I lived only long enough to write one more blog post, What Would It Be About?” This is it!
BECOME YOUR OWN DREAM CATCHER!
I encourage everyone reading this to become your own Dream Catcher. I don’t care how old or young you are, as long as you’re still alive, there are dreams you’ve been holding in your mind and heart for years that you haven’t caught yet.
What are you waiting for?!
NOW is all the time you have. Yesterday is gone and tomorrow is far from guaranteed but — for however many tomorrows are left, make them work for you!
Until I figured out my own agency – my unilateral ability to make things happen — I waited around for others to notice my proficiency and embrace and promote me. I earned “brownie points” left and right, figuring that those would surely be enough to notify the universe that I was ready to take on the world!
But after years of waiting with ‘bated breath to be discovered and utilized to the max, I wondered why were there so few takers? Why wasn’t I being chosen to do the marvelous things that I was so freaking capable of doing?!
Oh, I was being recruited plenty, up until then, to help deliver other people’s dreams and goals (employers, family, friends), so they all knew I was capable, but they weren’t jazzed about promoting me because they wanted me to keep serving them.
That’s when I decided I needed to choose myself and act as my own agent of delivery.
LIFE IN THE REARVIEW MIRROR
Looking back, every dream I had (that eventually became a reality) lay well beyond my comfort zone and seemingly even beyond my then-present abilities to achieve them! Every single one!
- To learn to ride a bike
- To learn to swim
- To have countless personal encounters with out-of-the-ordinary pets and wildlife
- To work my way out of behaving like a hesitant, frightened wallflower/introvert
- To become a good writer
- To become a good speaker
- To act and sing
- To learn Spanish
- To meet my favorite actors
- To befriend my favorite actor
- To move to and work in Hollywood
- To buy my first home (a condo)
- To name and claim my transgender status (To stand up for my truth)
- To hang my shingle as a freelance writer and become my own boss
- To undertake networking
- To have my breasts removed
- To have my panniculectomy
- To host a podcast
The list goes on!
And every item on the above list was risky to reach for, so they all felt well beyond my comfort zone. It would have FELT far easier AND safer to have sat on my hands and let the opportunities pass by.
Yet to be realized:
- To move to Costa Rica, Mexico, Panama or Vietnam (final decision still in process, but in that order of preference).
- To visit Germany and speak to German fans and friends about DeForest Kelley.
- To visit New Zealand.
What I have always admired in professional freelance creative people is that they have learned to be more-or-less comfortable with living on the edge. They know they’re putting themselves out on a limb by marching to their own drum, but there doesn’t seem to be any other way to make a living that makes them feel truly alive, so they’ve come to terms with the feast-or-famine nature of their existence.
That was my chief hurdle. I knew I’d never be happy holding down a nine-to-five job. And although I did hold down many of them, they were (in my mind) mere steppingstones to where I wanted to eventually end up. I never considered any of them a “career.” They were work (not bliss, as my writing career became), a way to keep my head above water financially. The thing is, I never lost touch with the things I was burning to do. As a happy result, my bucket list has been filled to capacity already. I can die empty, having accomplished the major goals (“dreams with deadlines”) I set for myself from a very young age.
IT’S NEVER TOO LATE
So my “final” blog post (in case I never get the chance to knowingly write it before I croak) is this one.
GO GET YOUR DREAMS!!!
