Dreaming? So What's Your Big Dream?????

Dreaming? So What's Your Big Dream?????

When I was a young girl I wanted to be an airline stewardess (flight attendant was not the coined phrase at the time). Anyway, whenever I would hear a plane overhead, I would sigh and wish that I could hurry and get older so I could be a stewardess. Now mind you I had never been on a plane, did not know one single person who worked for an airline - except the food handlers, and I am and have always been afraid of heights.

Did I mention that I also overlooked the fact that height and weight had to be proportionate? I was also a kinky haired, dark skinned Black child. Still, I did not let any of that deter me. I was bound and determined that when I grew up I was going to be an airline stewardess.

As I grew older that dream stayed with me. Even when I married young and even when I became a mother with only a high school education. I really can't tell you when the dream was buried. The truth is that being a stewardess seemed exciting and easy (I had obviously not done any research). I didn't know how long I would have had to be away from home; where I would be assigned to fly to or even how much the job paid. It never occurred to me that the passengers on the plane would be anything but nice and kind.

Somewhere in my young adult life I did figure out that I was not prepared or equipped to be up in anyone's plane talking about taking care of someone else. I can see it now. The first time we hit an airpocket and the plane dropped or tipped to the left, the passengers would have had to take care of me. Or, had I ever dared to look out of the window when we were thousands of feet in the air - ohmygoodLord. And what if someone ordered orange juice, I came back with apple juice and they got ugly? It would have been the first boxing match in the sky.
So what happened? I settled on whatever came up. First was being a wife. Now I have to admit that was never one of my big dreams. However, since I had said 'I-do' I tried and failed miserably. Then came being a mother. I did pretty good with that and while I had only dreamed of twins, the five I had just expanded that dream.

Yet somewhere along the way I stopped dreaming. I allowed life to consume me and suddenly my goal was to do something, anything that would (a) help me take care of my family, and (b) show my kids that you could do whatever you decided to do. But I wasn't dreaming. I had forgotten what it was like to dream of flying in the clouds - afraid of heights, weight not proportionate and all. I was focused on raising my family which was the right thing to do, but I could have focused on me too. But that would have been selfish. Right?

Of course not. I truly believe one of the biggest problems we face as women is taking care of self. We feel good when we put others first, or so we tell ourselves. We nuture everyone but ourselves and that ain't good.

We've got to remember how to dream. If we don't know how, we need to learn how. And, we need to not just dream, but nuture those dreams into reality. Yep, that's my big dream now - sharing the power of the dream.

Am I still nuturing? Yes. It is part of my make-up. Do I neglect my dreams to help someone else? No. My dream is to help. Some of us are meant to build rocket ships and some of us are meant to help those doing the building. Nothing in life is happenstance. In my world I believe there is a rhyme and reason for all things. One of the things that I learned about finding your dream/passion is to look back at what you do well - and enjoy. For me it has been providing understanding; sharing information; assisting others to move forward and I love it.

So what's my big dream? Its two-fold. I dream of working with young girls between the ages of 10 and 16 to assist them open the door to their dreams; and I want to do workshops with women 50 and older as they embrace life the second time around; as they learn to dream.

That' my dream. Assisting others in realizing their own dreams. Wow! Doesn't that sound like fun? By the way - WHAT IS YOUR BIG DREAM?!!!