Dreams can come true

Dreams can come true. But, we need to work at reaching those dreams.

This year once again proved that growth happens when I step outside my comfort zone. The comfort zone might be unpleasant, yet many of us are willing to stay in unpleasant situations for fear of change. How many times do we tell ourselves: better the devil I know than the one I don’t? Guess what? that is absolute hogwash!

On December 20, as I was happily driving to work, and admiring the stunning sunrise, it hit me: in 2023, I achieved two huge dreams, one personal and the other professional. I pulled over to capture the gorgeous sunrise and as I stood on the waterfront admiring the beautiful view, I was reminded how far I’ve come in the last few years.

The year certainly had its share of challenges. Is it me, or has the world gone topsy-turvy in the past few years? Between the pandemic, wars, geo-political instability, and people’s nastiness and selfishness, it’s been a helluva scary ride. It’s maddening that we, as humans, do not seem to learn from our past mistakes. Yet, in the middle of all the turbulence, there have been moments of joy, and hope.

An amazing new job!

The professional change was one that I had been hoping and planning for since 2019. For years, I had been unhappy at work. Sure there were some good moments, but overall, I was frustrated with many things. One day I will write about my experience, but for now let’s say that things had not been going well for years. Why did I stay? Sheer terror at the thought of changing jobs. I also had job security and a government pension. As someone who cherishes stability, this was huge. Yet, as time went on, and I was more and more unhappy, I realized that I did not want to be miserable. The time to change jobs was now or never. I am an educated, experienced educator and I have a lot to contribute to the right organization.

Since 2019, I had applied for several jobs. I successful completed a series of testing for a very interesting post, only to have the whole process kiboshed by Covid. I was discouraged, but I did not give up. Ageism is real and I experienced it first hand. This year, it finally happened: I changed jobs! On a recent beautiful sunny, winter morning, I was excited to be driving to work. For the first time in ages, I looked forward to going to work.

My new job is everything I had hoped for: doing meaningful work in my field, working with a great boss and team, easy commute, and a gorgeous work location. Every day I get in my car, I say a prayer of gratitude.

I can swim!!

One year ago, I told myself that my personal goal for 2023 was to learn how to swim. At the beginning of the year, I was terrified of deep water. I could float as long as I could touch the bottom. I had spent a lot of time in the water, thanks to our sweet little cottage. But I wanted to SWIM!

And as the year ends, I can say that I can swim!! I can do backstroke, I am comfortable in the water, and I can do front crawl. Kind of. Can I breathe while I do front crawl? Well, sometimes! Other times, not so much! I could not have achieved any of this level without two amazing instructors: Kim and Zoé. Kim came to the lake all summer and gave me amazing tips that made me feel safe and comfortable trying new things. I learned so much from Kim, most importantly how to feel comfortable in deep water. Zoé was my indoor pool teacher and she was wonderful. Every week she would tell me that I was doing great. At first, I thought that she was just being sweet and kind, but she kept insisting that I was learning so much and then she’d list how far I’d come. Thank you to both these ladies for sharing their skills and passion.

In summer 2024, I intend to keep working on my swimming skills so I can safely enjoy my lake.

If I can do it, so can you

And that brings me to my last comment: if I can do these things, so can you. I’m a 61 year old woman. In one year, I changed jobs and I learned to swim. Neither of these things was easy, but that didn’t stop me. Was I scared. Yeah, many times. Was I intimated? Yes. Did I give up? No. I knew that if I gave up I’d regret it. No regrets over here. Remember, dreams can come true if we work hard at reaching them. Happy New Year!