‘Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.’ Confucius
A close friend of mine has been a passionate photographer for as long as I’ve known her. When we were young, her dream was to make photography her career, but as the years passed it never seemed like the right time to give up her well-paid corporate role.
Last year she became ill and was forced to take three months off work. When well enough to get out of the house, she decided to take her camera with her wherever she went. Being creative, like being in nature, is incredibly healing and her illness was a reminder that she needed to make more time for both of those things.
Over the next couple of months, she took thousands of candid shots around her neighbourhood, capturing the people and places that were part of her everyday life. She slowed down enough to notice the simple beauty around her.
This simple exercise gave her absolute clarity about what she needed to do next. At age 46, she quit her job and did what she’d dreamed of doing for almost 30 years.
It’s been two years since then and my friend still takes photos every day. She now runs her own photography business and while it’s taken a while to build her income, she said to me recently, “The money doesn’t matter because I spend every day doing what I love.”
Maybe you can’t do exactly what you want to be doing with your life right now, but never let go of your dreams.
Try these tips to keep you inspired.
- Put aside one afternoon every week (or at the very least, one afternoon a fortnight) to do the things you really love. Just make sure you find time to indulge your passions!
- Find a ‘dream chasing’ friend and meet every month to keep each other motivated.
- Keep a notebook with you to capture inspiring ideas about your dreams.
- Meditate – it’s great for creativity and for connecting with intuition.
- Make a dream-catcher box. Cover a shoebox with images that inspire you and keep it somewhere you’ll see it every day. Keep adding photos, quotes and mementoes to remind you of the dream life you want to be living.
- Scare yourself a little bit every day. Being courageous builds courage – small actions outside of your comfort zone will encourage you to seek, identify and take on an exciting challenge when it comes your way.
