This Is Me--2024 A to Z Theme

My A to Z Themes in the past have covered a range of topics and for 2024 the theme is a personal retrospective that I call "I Coulda Been" which is in reference to my job and career arc over my lifetime. I'll be looking at all sorts of occupations that I have done or could have done. Maybe you've done some of these too!

Friday, April 19, 2019

Quest for the Future ( #AtoZChallenge )



Quick question:  Do you have a dream that you have set out to achieve even though others tell you it will never work?...




Maybe someday?
#AtoZChallenge 2019 Tenth Anniversary blogging from A to Z challenge letter



           Those explorers who discovered new lands and the pioneers who blazed the trails of those lands are a lot to be admired.  That's my view at least.  Some in our time will criticize their motivations and the eventual outcome of the actions taken by those who came before, but who are we to criticize that which came before we were even born?  Whatever happened happened and no one can change that now.  What is now is what it is and we are given the baton to carry in the next leg of the race.  Without exception, we are all running the race into whatever lies ahead.  Now it is our turn to head onward to that ongoing quest for the future.

         We're all getting to our futures by our own devices.  We each have our own dreams, plans, and expectations.  Throughout my entire life I've been on my own quest for the future.  Not that I'm like Christopher Columbus or Cabeza de Vaca (there's a story!), but I am on an adventure like any one of us--a life adventure. 

           Call me crazy, but I'm not the first person with a big dream.  My dream is essentially the same dream that I've pursued for as far back as I can remember.  Maybe I didn't always understand what my dream was or maybe now I've become a bit delusional.  I don't think so.  What I see ahead is real, tangible, and absolutely possible.

            The biggest obstacle will be convincing others that I am dreaming a possible dream.  However, an equally big obstacle will be my ability to convey my dreams to others in a meaningful manner that sparks a fire within them to share my dream.

          To be on a quest for the future is a plan of action.  It beats just sitting back in my easy chair waiting for each tomorrow to come and go.  I do believe that we all have a potential to make dreams happen and even if we don't realize the prize ourselves, at least we can help start blazing the trail that will get someone else there.

            The future is the only option we have on a life journey.  I want to try to claim my part of that future.  The past will help get me there as will the present.  My road doesn't have to be a lonely one because there are many who want to go where I'm going.  The way ahead is an open road filled with possibilities.

          Have you ever fallen back on old skills or contacts to help you embark on a career course change?  Are you easily discouraged when others scoff at what you believe to be good ideas?  Is there a time when you've overcome rejection and ridicule to become successful at something others thought you'd never achieve?







31 comments:

  1. I try to stick on my dreams and ideas, but sometimes i'm just alone to think my way, so... sometimes I give up, and later, I find I was true ;)

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    1. Frederique, I have done that more than a few times myself.

      Lee

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  2. I definitely have a dream and am pursuing it to the best of my ability. A big house is not a part of it! Been there, done that! Now, I concentrate on seeing how much I will get written/published, and if I can make a living with it... Yes, lots of folks scoff and don't think I can make it. Maybe they're right? I don't know. But I'm not stopping till all that I have inside me that wants to be written is out in the world. At least I'll have done that much!

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    1. Lisa, I wouldn't want a big house unless I could afford the staff to tend to it. We dreamers just have to keep fighting to keep our dreams alive.

      Lee

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  3. I was waitressing & bartending for many years, but I was also going to school and supporting 4 children. I finally graduated and I became a legal secretary first because that's the way I wanted it. I needed to start at the bottom I felt to know more with hands on & then I became a paralegal and it was my dream and I achieved it, but not for long. I have an acute case of Osteoporosis. I've had 3 back operations so far, but I believe it's over. I'm done. I did meet a man that is my forever partner & we bought a home together, so now it's time to live out our days. Great job my friend.

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    1. Dolly, sometimes those complications that just hit us out of nowhere can make the road to our dreams a tough haul. Nice to have someone with whom to share the load.

      Lee

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  4. Lee,

    I'm on quest get into a new house but then you know this already. I used to dream and dream and dream about this never seeing it as a tangible possible but I kept pursing that dream telling DH how wonderful it would be for x-y-z reasons and blah-blah-blah until my dream has become his dream, too. We're actively pursing house hunting with specific mindset of what we want in our next place. After all, the our new home more than likely will be our last purchase of this magnitude so we want to get it right and be happy in it until we're called to take up residence beyond the Pearlie Gate.

    You speak of skills put on the backburner. Oh definitely, again you know art is one I didn't purse for years and it wasn't until 2017 A2Z Challenge that I made this my goal to do or die. I figured what's the worse that can happen? Everyone might say I'm horrible with no talent and beg me to never showcase my work again but in short I've gotten positive feedback and am making improvements every day that I continue down my artsy path. Of course, I know my limitations and don't have high hopes of this turning into anything in the immediate future but if I keep at it maybe I can step out of my comfort zone to do more with it. Only time will tell.

    I wouldn't say I'm easy discouraged but like everyone I get bummed out and have to pep myself up to look on the bright side. I'm a dreamer and a believer. I know whatever is out there waiting for me will reveal itself in time. :)

    Thanks for hosting this wonderful yearly event and thanks for hecking out Atlantica's QUEEN, Athena, & the Little Mermaid's mother in today's A2Z Little Mermaid art sketch 'Queen' post.

    Happy a2zing, my friend!

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    1. Cathy, we just gotta keep looking until we see what we've been trying to find. But gotta pay close attention so we know when it's there.

      Good house hunting to you!

      Lee

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  5. I bet CDV got a lot of teasing on Ye OLDE Spanish playground...

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    1. CW, yeah, but as an adult he was the head cowboy at the ranch.

      Lee

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  6. I'm fuzzy on the details, but applaud whatever it is you're dreaming of!

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    1. Myra, dreams always seem to be a bit fuzzy don't they? And I don't want to give away too much at the present time. The dreams might not really come to pass.

      Lee

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  7. I've been dreaming since I became self employed back in 2001. Dreams aren't my issue; passion is. I used to have lots of passion; now I'm tired all the time. I haven't given up on the dream, but a little sleep wouldn't hurt. :-)

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    1. Mitch, you have stated my biggest concern as well. My dreams keep getting bigger as my passion and energy dwindle. Hoping it will rekindle and start blazing.

      Lee

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  8. A wonderful "Q" post Lee. I have missed doing the challenge.
    The future? I tend to live each day as it arrives at the moment.
    Have a wonderful Easter.
    Yvonne.

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    1. Yvonne, I pretty much live each day to the next. Not that many places I need to go except to get groceries now and then.

      Lee

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  9. I've done a pretty good job of keeping my "impossible" dreams to myself to avoid the opinions of others. I am sorry, however, that my father did not live long enough to see that I finally became a published author, even though I did follow his advice and study/work in a practical career first.

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    1. Patricia, I like to hold my cards until I'm in the position where I must show my hand. I'd be interested to have seen what my father would have thought of my blogging. I'm pretty sure he would have his own blog. Yeah, those practical career choices our Dads encouraged us toward might have been the best decisions in a certain sense, but we wouldn't have had the life we have now. I'm happy with mine.

      Lee

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  10. "The future is the only option we have on a life journey." Kind of a shame, ain't it?

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    1. John, I'd love to visit the past, but the past can't be changed.

      Lee

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  11. Here's to your dreams coming true Arlee! And for your desire to ignite the fire in others ..

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    1. Susan S, I've always tried to ignite fires in my blog posts--make people including myself think. Sometimes I'm quieter than others.

      Lee

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  12. I picture myself with my dream, holding it close "My dream, MINE! Get your own." When people try to poo-hah it like when we were children and parents were like "that one is dirty, try this one." getting us to let go of something we wanted. - Erin (http://www.erinpenn.com/blog/)

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    1. Erin, that's a good way to visualize it. It can also be good when a group of people have a shared dream that they achieve together.

      Lee

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    2. So far every shared dream I've had has been like a group school project, where I do all the work and everyone else gets the A's. I'm tired of that. I'm very glad their dreams came true and I helped them on their way - but I don't want to become bitter in my lack of achievement and sing "Rose's Turn" at the end of the show. This dream is mine. I just got to figure out how to reach it.

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    3. I've helped enough people - it should be easy now, right?

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    4. Erin, it all depends on what you're trying to achieve and what the required parameters are to achieve it. Neil Armstrong gets remembered as the first man to set foot on the moon, but there is no way he could have even gotten off the Earth without the help and support of thousands of people who have most gone unrecognized for their parts in this history.

      Figuring out how to reach the dream can be as serendipitous as it can be calculated. Never get bitter and never give up.

      Lee

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  13. I'm still practicing patient persistence regarding my dreams. Well, not always "patient" but mostly persistent.

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  14. History is written by the victors - but archaeologists can uncover a different picture, even if it keeps getting changed or added to.

    Which is like my dreams. I discover new things and change direction. Maybe that's why I've had so many careers, now live in the US when I dreamed of Canada or Chile, and dream of a medical breakthrough. Writing is the constant, but the genre changes.

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    1. Roland, so true. The changes and differences are what makes life so rich and interesting.

      Lee

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Lee