Every parents ongoing battle is choosing between feeling guilty for going their dreams or putting their dreams on hold to pour all their energy towards raising their kids.
Waiting til your kids are grown and out of the house to start working towards your dreams is a waste of many years and will lead to regret in the end.
What would you say if I came to you as a friend and confided in you about postponing my dreams. What would you say to me if I said the following statement to you?
“I truly want to become an entrepreneur and make my way in the world. I’ve worked MANY jobs so it’s not hard to get one and keep one but I truly want to take a crack at this entrepreneur thing and figure out how to make money using my own services. What do you think?”
Would you be the type of friend to encourage me or discourage me? Are you the type of friend that would speak of ways that I can succeed or ways that I can fail? Would you use the classic excuse that I have kids and I need to stay secure with a good paying job with benefits? Or would you encourage me to go for what I want, keeping the job and teaching my kids that Daddy can do anything he puts his mind to.
Most people use their kids as an excuse to NOT follow their dreams. They act as if they’re going to live forever and they can get started on working towards their dreams when they feel like it.
Why do people do this to themselves? Is there something noble about putting your life on hold for your kids?
Listen, I get it. I totally do. In theory, it sounds great to shove your dreams into a closet and lock the door until you’re ready to reopen it. But let’s face it, when are the chances you’re going back to that locked door to go for what you want?
Close to zero percent chance.
So why not go for what you want now? Why not go for your dreams now? Why not take a stab at what you truly want to accomplish in life?
You know you won’t live forever. You know there won’t be a perfect time. You know that the stars won’t magically align and you won’t get the sign to say “now is the time you must go.”
The only way any of that magical stuff happens is when you decide to JUST GO FOR IT. ESPECIALLY if you have kids.
You are a prime example that they have as to how they should live their lives. They look up to you to see if they too can be fearless in the face of danger.
If you go for it and fail, your kids will NEVER hold it against you. If you go for it and succeed, they will remember the success you created.
But if you don’t go for it and “play it safe”, they will only know how to “play it safe” and they will ALWAYS be fearful. And being afraid of the unknown and scared to try new things paralyzes people from going after their goals and their dreams in life.
I will leave you with this:
My mom once had a job as an Accountant at the Lyric Opera of Chicago. A prestigious place in the heart of downtown Chicago. After working their and not liking the commute and the hustle and bustle it took to work that job, she decided on a whim to become a nurse. This was a dream that she ALWAYS had as a child.
She received her nursing degree and worked as a Nurse for several years before needing to take care of my grandmother full-time due to my grandmother losing her vision.
My mom’s story doesn’t sound super glamorous or incredibly motivating but it sure was to me.
As a teenager and a growing young man, she taught me that I could DO ANYTHING I set my mind to. She was getting paid extremely well at the opera house but she decided that enough was enough. So she went after her dreams.
Have you decided that enough was enough yet? Have you decided to go for what you truly want to accomplish? Have you realized the impact that you could have on your kids can last far longer than you can conceive?
Have you realized it yet or are you still “playing it safe” waiting for “the perfect time?”
Don’t allow anything to get in the way of you going after your dreams and aspirations. In 2015 I decided to go after my dreams and it was all based on the inspiration that my mom gave me when she did the same thing many decades ago.
Because if she would’ve waited for the perfect time to go after her dreams to become a nurse, she would’ve NEVER had a chance. It would’ve been too late. And you know what would’ve followed her around after it’s too late?
REGRET.
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