Let’s talk about dreams. Not the ones that take place during our nocturnal subconscious—although that could definitely be a separate post since I have the weirdest sleep dreams EVER (like last week when I dreamt that lizards were crawling all over me, which led to a minor, throw everything off the bed, freak-out in the middle of the night). Nope, the dreams I’m referring to are the goals, aspirations and “when I grow up…” kind.
As a little girl—from about four to eight years old—anytime someone asked what I wanted to be when grew up, the answer was simple: a dancer, a doctor and an astronaut. Duh! Usually, though, what we want to be as kids scarcely resembles what we actually end up doing as adults—or does it? Am I a dancer in the true sense of the word? No, I guess not; but for the last year and a half I’ve been a total body spin instructor at TEAMride, where we ride to the beat of the music and incorporate choreographed moves during each song (all 12 to 14 of them) for a fun, but intense 45 minute cardio workout. I’m essentially bike dancing, so I guess you could say my dream to be a “dancer” has been realized (more or less).
Next up was my desire to be a doctor. After a brief stint of playground doctoring which ended abruptly when the sight of someone else’s blood literally made me faint, I knew even at age eight that legitimately donning a white lab coat and stethoscope probably wasn’t in the cards for me. Ironically enough, however, I’ve spent the last two and a half years doing marketing and event planning for the California Medical Association—a non-profit organization serving more than 43,000 physician members throughout the state—where we advocate on behalf of physicians when it comes to health care policy and legislation and provide various services and resources for running their practice. Instead of being a doctor and helping patients I work for an organization that helps doctors. Once again, not a direct representation of my original hope, but certainly related.
And now, the astronaut—this one is a bit of a stretch! No, I haven’t skyrocketed into space, nor do I have plans of doing so anytime soon, so my adult interpretation of this childhood aspiration is definitely more philosophical rather than literal. Instead of flying among the stars, I’m reaching for them, constantly setting goals for myself and actively working toward them. From living abroad in my twenties, becoming an event planner in my thirties and starting this blog—an idea I first dreamt up more than five years ago—to the various design projects I tackle; I continue to push myself adventurously as well as creatively. Recently, I’ve started developing even bigger dreams in this space (no pun intended), which I’ll share more on soon.
Perhaps my adolescent self was wise beyond her years in that she knew to live a full life one must reach for the stars. You might not always grasp them, but the journey to do so is quite spectacular and the results can often be out of this world.
I’d love to know: what are some of your dreams that have come to fruition or that you are currently working to achieve?
– S A D Y E E V Y N R E I S H
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