Pursuing my Passion

I was talking with a co-worker yesterday about his dream of starting a business.  He is 23 years old. I am 34.  I told him if I could offer one piece of advice, I would start now. You have the job to pay your bills, but work on your dream a little bit every day.  I knew from an early age I wanted to start a business, but I let me lack of confidence keep me from pursing my dream to start a business in the field I wanted.  When I did attempt to start a business, I did something I thought in my head would be a more safe bet.  But I truly believe that it is your passion that drives you to success in any business. It is your passion that gets you up at 5 in the morning, and keeps you going until late in the night hours.  It is your passion that finds a way to keep trying even when the numbers don’t crunch right. My passion wasn’t for gift baskets. My passion is in helping people reach their goals and overcome obstacles. 

Sometimes I think where I would be now if I had simply started working on my dream 10 years ago. Of course that is all water under the bridge.  Since I started this blog, I find myself more and more excited.  I feel like every day I write, I am in a way honoring myself and my dreams.  I don’t know where the blog is going to take me, but I have promised myself I won’t let a day go by that I don’t work on my dream in some way.  I am more excited to get out of bed now, and even the job that I don’t like is somehow more bearable.  There is something so magical about just going after something you alone want. 

When I worked as a counselor, I saw so many people that worked their whole lives and always thought they could live out their dreams when they were retired, or when the kids were grown, or so on and so on, but someday never came.  There is a quote from Shawshank Redemption that I love.  Before the main character breaks out of jail he says “ Get busy living or get busy dying”  I love the statement because it truly says it all.  For today, I am excited to spend time pursuing my passion and working on my dream.