”
It doesn’t interest me what you do for a living. I want to know
what you ache for, and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart’s
longing.
“It doesn’t interest me what you do for a living. I want to know what you ache for, and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart’s longing. It doesn’t interest me how old you are. I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool for your dream, for the adventure of being alive.” ~ from The Invitation, by Oriah Mountain Dreamer.
It’s a very strange feeling in life when one of your dreams comes true. I always enjoyed writing, but I always knew that to think my hobby would take me anywhere was unrealistic. I always wrote, but in real life I went to work as an insurance billing clerk, a proofreader, an accountant, and a University of California library cataloguing assistant (just to be around books). All the while my secret passion was writing. I kept journals, notebooks of poetry, stories and private reflections. Whenever possible, I took odd jobs such as editing the writing of Chinese engineers, or making an economics paper for a professor from Taiwan sound as if a native English speaker had composed it.
“If I could just have one thing of my own in print,” I thought to myself, “I could die happy.”
“Dreams are renewable. No matter what our age or condition, there are still untapped possibilities within us and new beauty waiting to be born.”
~Dale E. Turner
Last weekend I was hired as a freelance reporter to cover a conference held by one of the largest women’s organizations in the world. For the first time, I had a real press badge to wear, and I was paid more than I’ve ever been paid for any article. My story went out over a news service, which meant being published nationally for the first time.
I was often afraid this weekend, afraid I wouldn’t be able to write my first press release, afraid I wouldn’t do a good job, afraid I would overlook something important, and afraid to go up to complete strangers to ask them questions. I had the opportunity to interview Dr. Joycelyn Elders, the first African American U.S. Surgeon General. As a member of the press, I attended a banquet with about 650 people where Elders was the keynote speaker. I went up to meet her, and she complimented the pin I was wearing on my lapel. I said, “Thank you.” Then I became tongue-tied.
Who knows what other opportunities this reporting job could lead to? My father had dreams, but as far as I know, none of his ever came true, not even the one he had about building his own tool shed in the backyard. He did put down a very nice foundation, but never got the walls up, and years later it still lay there in various stages of decay, like an ancient ruin.
This week people will be talking about leprechauns and the luck of the Irish. Some say there’s no such thing as luck. For me, luck occurs when preparation meets opportunity. When you spend hours on your dream even though there is no hope in sight of it ever coming true, you’ll be ready to answer the call when opportunity does finally knock. You have to ask yourself, “When I am on my deathbed, what will I most regret not having done?” Try one baby step at a time in the direction you most desire to go.
“If one advances confidently in the direction of one’s dreams, and endeavors to lead a life which one has imagined, one will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.” ~Henry David Thoreau
