When we are kids, we imagine what our lives are going to be like when we grow up. As we get older, most of our 
aspirations for the future become more “realistic”. We’re expected to have our future figured out by the time we’re ready to complete high-school.
If you’re like me, you were told that the right thing to do is to pursue a higher education, get a great high-paying job, get married and have kids. I thought that was the formula for success: education + marriage + children = success. If you’ve been reading my blogs for a while, then you know I recently turned 40. At this stage in my life, the only part of this “success” formula that I have achieved is education. Does that mean I have failed?
I don’t believe that I have failed. I didn’t know at 18 or 19 all of the options that were available to me. I knew what I was passionate about, but I didn’t know how to monetize it. At that age, I never would have considered becoming an entrepreneur. I had been told that there was security in a career. If I wanted a high-paying, well-respected career, I needed to have a degree. Once I graduated with my Bachelor’s degree, it didn’t take too long for me to think that wasn’t enough and that I needed to upgrade to a Master’s degree.
Despite having all sorts of letters behind my name, I still struggled to realize the earning potential I was told would be at my fingertips with the education I had. I know many of you can relate to the frustration of doing everything you’re “supposed” to do, and not getting the results that everyone told you would happen. I don’t have any regrets about the education I have. I know that the skills and knowledge I learned along the way have allowed me to function more efficiently and be more open to shifting my perspective on many things.
I’m not living the life I imagined as a child, a teenager or even in my early thirties; it’s actually better. I remember hearing when I was in my first year of my Master’s degree, that you’re dream job is something that you would be willing to do for free. In my early twenties, that sounded like crazy talk, but now I get it. It took me a long time to figure it out, but I’ve found something I love to do that doesn’t feel like work most days. I love what I do and I don’t dread getting out of bed on a Monday morning.
If you’re not living the life you imagined, and your current experience isn’t better than expected, what can you do to make it better? What do you need to do to get excited about the future again? Most of us know what we want; we just allow the voices in our head and the peanut gallery around us to tell us we can’t have it, or that we missed our change. It’s time to put those voices on mute and do whatever you need to do to begin your journey to living the life you want! ♥