Last updated on November 5th, 2019 at 11:30 pm
This week, while working on my dream to make this website a top online publication, I stumbled across the following quote online:
“The path to a dream is paved with sacrifices and lined with determination. And although it has many stumbling blocks along the way and may go in more than one direction, it is marked with faith. It is traveled by belief in you and others but requires courage, persistence, and hard work. It is conquered with a willingness to face challenges and take chances, to fail and try again and again. Along the way, you may have to confront doubts, setbacks, and unfairness. But when the path comes to an end, you will find that there is no greater joy than making your dream come true.”
Is THAT preaching to the choir or what?
I am living my dream, but I am at the place within the dream–the middle place–the place where I am walking down the path toward my dream, but the outcome or destination is still out in the future. My dream won’t come entirely true until we eight women have all achieved one great dream, and I can begin to write about the experience of being the person behind the bright curtain.
In the meantime, I am in the training camp part of my dream, where the greatest amount of time is spent building my dream by writing regularly, reading, and attending Toastmasters meetings to learn the art behind the craft of public speaking. My nights are filled with books on motivation, public speaking, success, blogging, and weight loss. My days are filled with my regular job, administering this blog, writing on my other blog, raising my son, meetings, walking, meditating, and trying to stay focused on my dreams.
It’s a full plate.
How do I stay motivated to continue working at this pace from week to week? Let me share a little of my life outside this blog, and it starts with my attitude.
1. I break my dream down to one day at a time.
Each day I ask myself: what small thing can I do today, which will take me one step closer to my dream? Sometimes it is fixing something on the blog or reading three pages in a book, or other times it might be something as small as merely a walk around the block or eating a salad for lunch.
2. At night just before I fall asleep, I go over my day in my head and think of all the things I am grateful for.
I congratulate myself on any small steps I took toward my dream. I daydream (or is it night-dream?) about my dream just before I fall asleep. Part of my dream board is stapled to the ceiling above my bed. I stare at it just before I turn out my bedroom light.
3. I write little motivational or funny notes to myself on post-it notes and place them around my home.
I write on my bedroom mirrors. I write anything down that I find keeps me positive or makes me laugh, and I place it somewhere; I will see it regularly throughout my day.
4. I get out of bed in the morning by slapping my hands together and yelling, “Today is a great day!” (I am not kidding).
I follow this by singing my way to work. If it is a warm day, I roll down my windows as I drive, and I sing loudly with the breeze, and whatever song I can find that I half-way know on the radio, sometimes I make up my lyrics.
5. I find some time to meditate every day, along with spending time outdoors with nature.
I have a garden. Sometimes I sit for 10 minutes among my flowers and listen to the sounds of my neighborhood. My cat and dog often bug me for attention during these moments, and I am reminded how much I am loved.
6. Lastly, when I start feeling discouraged, I think about my son.
I think about the legacy of being his mother and what I want him to say about me after I am gone. He has sacrificed so much to take this ride in life with me, and I want to prove to him that he can achieve dreams too. If we eight women dreamers can show the world how it is done, then we most certainly can teach him.
This week I started writing to newspapers, online magazines, and Oprah telling our story to anyone who has an email inbox. I walked, ate chocolate, drank wine, visited a dreamer’s adorable home, walked in a photo walk, and met new friends, laughed, and spent time with dreamer Heather that didn’t involve work. I heard my son laugh and witnessed my ex-husband being stung three times by a wasp.
Catherine Hughes
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Catherine Hughes is the founder, content director and editor-at-large of 8WomenDream. She is passionate about helping women step out of their own way and strike out into a world waiting for their special talents. She’s a published author and a former award-winning mom blogger. Catherine has helped companies both large and small create engaging web content, social media narratives, and unique blogging platforms. She claims to be a redhead, but don’t hold that against her.
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