Julie's Corner
I Wish

Have you ever wished you had lived your life differently?  Do you ever wish that you would have made different choices at critical points in your life?  Is the day to day part of your life a drag or a joy?

These are all things to think about with the new year nearly at the door.  New Year’s is the traditional time to make resolutions.  It is the time that many look at their life and decide to change.  Stop smoking, get rid of some weight, start exercising, stop spending so much money, save money….the list could go on and on. 

If you want to make changes in your life, now is the time to do so.  Stop kicking yourself.  Get up.  Go what you wish you had done when you were younger. 

You want to go to college?  So, go.  So what if you will be 55 when you graduate.  You are still going to be 55 regardless.  Go after the dream.  Now.  Don’t let age hold you back.  You will continue to turn one year older anyway.  Wouldn’t you rather turn that year over doing something you always wanted to do?

Now, granted, we all can’t be Olympic gold metal winners.  However, you can watch the Olympic games.  You wish you had been a professional baseball player?  Big deal.  Find out where the nearest Fantasy Camp is located.  Cost runs around five thousand dollars but you get to go out and play like the big boys. 

Can’t go to Fantasy Camp?  Go to professional baseball games.  Join an on-line fantasy baseball league.  Life will give you ways to enjoy your dreams even if it is not exactly as you wish.

Don’t tell yourself that you can not do something.  The only thing that prevents you from reaching that goal is yourself.  What is easier?  To say “I want to go to college” and go?  Or to say, “I wish I had gone to college but it is to late now”?  Me thinks that it is easier to wish!  Going to school takes great effort and a large investment of time. 

Step back.  Look around you.  Decide what you want to be “when you grow up”.  The only thing that stops you from achieving your goal is yourself.

Years ago, my husband told me that I should go to school to be a doctor.  I didn’t think that I was smart enough.  I never went.  However, when my children all went to school, so did I.  Did I become a doctor?  No.  I became a nurse.  Cheaper, faster and easier considering my life style at the time.  I took what was in my reach and grabbed for it.  During the time span that I was in nursing school, I thought I would go bonkers.  It was the most difficult thing that I had ever done.  The main point is this.  I DID IT!  I decided that I would reach the age of 40 in nursing school.  I would obtain what I had dreamed of.  Did I have a dream that I reached for prior to this?  Yes and it is what ultimately lead to nursing school.  I became an Emergency Medical Technician.  I found that I liked the medical field.  It planted a seed.  If I could become an EMT, then, maybe I could become a nurse. 

This year, let your New Year’s resolution be one of growing.  Let yourself dream.  THEN, follow where that dream goes.  Take one step at a time.  Those little steps add up.  You will find yourself standing on the porch knocking on the door in a short period of time, your will find yourself accomplishing things that you never dreamt you could do.