Yesterday I spoke to a group of teen girls. I could see that many of them had already given up on their dreams because they had made some mistakes. I also had a chance to speak with a young man just out of high school who is basically doing nothing with his life because he thinks his dreams aren’t possible. He lacks the support of family & doesn’t know where to begin, so he is doing nothing…nothing but feeling down about it.
I’m learning that these young people are not the
only ones who have given up hope for their dreams. Adults do that too, don’t we? We make mistakes in our lives and then we
have to live with the circumstances. Because
of that we think that our time for dreams has passed. Our life is now in the way of us getting what
we want or doing what we want. But is it
really? Is it really too late? I don’t think so. But many of us are not pursuing our dreams because
we feel like the young man I spoke with yesterday.
We don’t have
the support of family. We feel like we don’t know how to get started ….so we just stop….and try to ignore the feeling in
our hearts that never really goes away.
But IT’S NOT TOO LATE. My parents always said…ANYTHING IS
POSSIBLE. You can be anything you want
to be. You can do anything you want to do. You are not constrained by time or
money or circumstance. Just because you
have kids, are settled down, are working a full time job…does not mean that
your time has passed. IT IS NOT TOO LATE.
I’m going to tell you the same thing I told those
young people yesterday. IT IS NOT TOO
LATE. If you have a dream in your heart,
YOU CAN STILL HAVE IT. If you feel passionate
about using your skills to pursue something you love, you still can. But you have to get over feeling like you don’t
know what to do and ask some questions.
Get on the internet and
search to find out what’s required to do what you want to do. Find out what qualifications are needed and
then find out how and where you can get qualified. Listen, when you finish school you are left
out there to figure out how to make your life the life you want. We all feel a little unsure about which path
to take and HOW to get where we want to go.
So what you need to do is…choose 1 path and start walking.
Walk past the fear of failure.
Walk past that idea that you don’t know what you’re doing, because
frankly no great inventor, artist or business person was given a specific step
by step play book on what to do next. They researched what they had to do and
started walking, even if they felt scared.
So YOU CAN DO IT, TOO at any age, in any financial
circumstance, at any time. THIS is your
time. If you want something, if you
dream of something, if you wish for something, start researching what’s
required to get it or do it and start moving in that direction.
You start in your own backyard with what you
have. If you want to be a singer but
live in a small mid-western town, start by having a girl’s party at your house
monthly where friends get together and you sing a song at the end of the
night. 
If you always wanted to
have your own bakery, start by baking cupcakes every Sunday and selling them
after church. Tell the church that x% of
the proceeds will be donated right back to them. Who turns down free money? 
If you always wanted to be a dancer, but you
have 3 kids and can’t afford to move to Vegas to be a showgirl, then dance in
your own backyard. On the weekends, meet
in the park, bring your music and offer free dance classes to women. Then once
a month choose your top 3 performing buddies and put on a show for the neighborhood. Get supplies for your costumes at the thrift
store or wear last year’s Christmas dress to perform.
Until you start walking, until you start trying, until
you take the first step of at least researching what you need to do, things won’t
change. But if you are ready to try,
then say to yourself, “Self, I’m scared
and I don’t know if I’m going to succeed and I don’t know how this is going to
turn out. But I’m going to try anyway…because
I have a dream that won’t go away.”
Stand up to those excuses and start with little baby steps in your own
backyard.
Because….ITS NOT TOO LATE. Is your family your excuse? Good put them to work on your dream. Let your kids set up your social media. Is money your excuse? Good this is your opportunity to learn about
free resources in your community that can help you. Are you just plain old afraid that you don’t know
what to do…is that your excuse? Good. Then welcome to the club, because we all feel
the same way. This is your opportunity
to see just how much you can accomplish when you try. This is your chance to start believing in yourself. Just say, “Ok I feel fear,” and start walking anyway. Then take small steps, because IT’S NOT TOO
LATE.
If you want to do something, have something, try
something…THEN DO IT because IT’S NOT TOO LATE.
Want more? Steph Stanford is a professional speaker and author who teaches women to love themselves, embrace life and start living! Check out her website or pick up her book, Happy Ain't That Hard, at www.stephstanford.com
