building the dream

The saying "Rome wasn't built in a day" comes to mind" when thinking about building a dream. And the reality is, most things aren't built in a day. It takes a series of steps, and days, weeks, months and sometimes years. But what it takes before all of that is vision. A clear picture on what it will be after all those steps, days/weeks/months. What is the dream -- what does it look like, what's it made up of, what does it include and NOT include, and what will make it authentic to you -- aka your dream?

I'm not sure when i set out a year ago to take a second look at my life I was seeing it as a "dream" I just knew I wanted to make some changes -- as I just wasn't happy with my life as it was. And truth be told, it wasn't so bad, in fact by many definitions it was pretty great. But I wasn't happy. And by allowing myself to tap into what it was that I truly felt, and finding where my sources of happiness were and where they were not, I started to get to know myself on a deeper level. And I set out on a new path.

And through some powerful work with a coach (yes, coaches can have a coach too :) I started to ask myself -- Who am I and What do I Want? Two very simple questions, but quite powerful when you take the time to truly ponder them. And it wasn't until i got really, really clear on those answers that I started to find real, authentic happiness. And so with my vision board in hand and my life out in front of me, I started to slowly but surely build the life I wanted to be living vs the life I had somehow just fallen into routine with. And as a result -- as you've heard me say, I've never been this happy. And that's still SO wild to hear myself say b/c as illustrated on this blog, it's been a rocky road since my life blew up in 2010. But yet here I am with clarity, awareness and a life that I built based on who I am and what I want.

I'm reminded of this personal mission during a week where I had to come to terms with something in my life that I have a very strong affinity for but it's not serving me b/c it's not truly falling in line with what I want. So I had to take a long hard look at myself again and the answers to those two questions and in the end I had to walk away from something that is very meaningful to me still today. But if there's one thing this past year taught me and what this post is about -- is the more I stay true to those questions and hence to myself, the happier I am. So I'm reminding myself that when one door closes another one opens, so here I go on search for a door that's even just cracked but waiting for someone to walk through. Because that's how the ultimate dream gets built.