I had the most interesting of conversations the other day with my 11 year old son. We were joking around talking about his schooling and future career aims. He said to me (very much tongue in cheek!) "Fine then mum, when I grow up I'm going to be a doctor or a lawyer!" I replied "You most certainly will not! You will follow your dreams and you will enjoy it!!!" My son, you see loves to sing, to act and to dance. He dances everywhere, once we were walking through the local shopping centre and as usual he was tapping I said "C'mon, please... do you have to tap everywhere we go?!" he replied with "Geez mum you sound like the kids at school!"
I wondered afterwards what life would be like for all of us if from a very early age we were encouraged to pursue our dreams with the energy, passion and verve that a child has. Last year at school they had a career day, the teacher gave them a list of acceptable careers, and finished by informing them, that no one was permitted to choose a career that was "not a real job" such as a sports star or a rock star. My son came home quite dejected telling me that he couldn't choose his career for careers day. I spoke to the teacher and explained how passionate he was about the arts. Eventually the teacher allowed him his career choice. He went to school beaming - bow tie and all, after all what 11 year old doesn't want to be an Opera Singer!
It honestly is never too late to follow your own dreams. If you're thinking now about something in your earlier years you wished you had of pursued with more gusto, then today is the day for you to pick it up again.
I have learnt also that your passions and dreams cannot be lived out through your children... When I was younger I always wanted a horse, more than anything, of course my family had no money and the occasional horse movie and many library books had to suffice. Late last year I took up riding lessons. I'm not sure I can put into words the exhilaration and delight I got from each lesson. Then I had a great idea!! I convinced my 6 year old to try horse riding! I was prepared to even purchase a horse for her! Well, she had one terms worth of lessons and did not enjoy it at all. She told me the horses were stinky and her butt hurt, the helmet was uncomfortable! I told her she'd get used to the smell and eventually there'd be no pain. She said "why do I have to do something I don't enjoy mummy?" That was almost an epiphany for me, and I learnt a very valuable lesson.
Why then as adults do we continue to do what we do not enjoy? As kids it's very easy, you like something or you do not, therefore you do it freely or you quite simply do not do it at all. Yet as adults we've been preconditioned to just accept that sometimes you don't get to do things you don't like. And you deal with it. However just consider if even for a few moments that perhaps this dogma isn’t the wisest pieces of information we have been taught.
I often wonder what my life would have been if I had people around me at an early age who said "sure, it's perfectly ok and wonderful for you to follow your dreams". How different would my life be today? I always wanted to do something with animals and perhaps study Zoology. However living in the past never serves us, sure we can look backwards to see where we’ve been, that definitely helps us in moving forward, but other than this "wishing for the past to be different" can be a very redundant exercise.
Perhaps now then it is time for us all to consider where we would like to be, and start to figure out how we get there. I believe following your dreams with passion and conviction can only lead you to great places and wondrous successes.
My Christmas wish for you this year is a life of passion, wonder, excitement and dream fulfillment.
Jen