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husband of 7 years.
My strategy to achieve my degree goal was to focus on my big vision for the future and then list how I'd accomplish that vision in small manageable steps. I wanted to be a college graduate pursuing a career using my writing skills and at the same time be a great mom and wife. I've seen myself as a writer since I was an 11-year-old documenting who I thought was cute on TV last night. I even pictured myself being a guest on Johnny Carson's Tonight show couch. Not so for others in my life. A college degree would prove to the world and to me that I earned the right to call myself a writer.
Oh, and the other part of the vision for the future is about being a mom. I'd always wanted to get a college degree. The timing of going to school at 30 coincided with the reality that we were trying to start a family. The infertility tests were inconclusive. I took the doctor's suggestion to put my focus somewhere else and quit my secretarial job so that I could go to school full-time. I put myself in a totally new environment and not the same people who knew how much I wanted to have a family.
I had a big vision of me receiving my degree, and the small manageable steps were showing up for class and doing the homework for the class each day. If the course was challenging (like Statistics), I did not panic about how many more sessions I had to attend or papers I had to write. I showed up for the small tasks as I worked towards my big vision.
Happily, my dream has become a reality. The picture accompanying this piece is of our daughter and me at my graduation ceremony. While my dream of being interviewed by Johnny Carson is out of reach, I am making a difference using my writing skills. I'm very much loving my life as a mom and wife. And I'm getting the hang of being a doting NaNa as well.
Whatever you choose to pursue as your bold vision, writing it down is a first step to making it a reality. Seeing yourself accomplishing that vision of your future self is an exercise I’d suggest you do several times on your journey to bringing your vision to reality. And celebrating the fact you did what you set out to do.
My wish for you is that as you spring forward, you unleash your bold life powerfully with purpose.
Think about how some of these stories could make a difference for your loved ones. How did your great-grandparents, grandparents and parents meet? How did they earn a living? Were they active in the community? What difference did they make in their circle? Did they live by the share the same values as you do today?
RHG MagazineTM - March 2022 © All rights reserved.
Mary E. Knippel, best selling author, your writing mentor, and inspirational speaker uses her 30-years experience as a journalist to support you to take pen in hand to unleash your story worth writing. Visit Mary's website at https://yourwritingmentor.com.
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infertility tests were inconclusive. I took the doctor's suggestion to put my focus somewhere else and quit my secretarial job so that I could go to school full-time. I put myself in a totally new environment and not the same people who knew how much I wanted to have a family.
I had a big vision of me receiving my degree, and the small manageable steps were showing up for class and doing the homework for the class each day. If the course was challenging (like Statistics), I did not panic about how many more sessions I had to attend or papers I had to write. I showed up for the small tasks as I worked towards my big vision.
Happily, my dream has become a reality. The picture accompanying this piece is of our daughter and me at my graduation ceremony. While my dream of being interviewed by Johnny Carson is out of reach, I am making a difference using my writing skills. I'm very much loving my life as a mom and wife. And I'm getting the hang of being a doting NaNa as well.
Whatever you choose to pursue as your bold vision, writing it down is a first step to making it a reality. Seeing yourself accomplishing
that vision of your future self is an
exercise I’d suggest you do several
times on your journey to bringing
your vision to reality. And
celebrating the fact you did what
you set out to do.
My wish for you is that as you
spring forward, you unleash your
bold life powerfully with purpose.