Following Dreams

Submitted by Sandy on Tue, 03/20/2018 - 17:54

It's always good to follow your dreams.  I'm part of a group that is reading through the book "The Happiness Project" by Gretchen Rubin.  This book is Gretchen's reflectons on how she came up with a monthly plan to improve her life in one year.  Each month our group works through a chapter and we take a look at Gretchen's plan and apply this in our own life.  We don't follow the plan exactly as she does, this isn't a "one size fits all" type of plan.  Each month, we work on areas of life that can make us happy.  This month, one of the challenges is to start a blog.

So, here we go!  

This is the first blog post in a series that I am going to document my life - not my WHOLE life, but the life that I have now.  This blog series will be my journey going back about 3 years ago when I began to follow my dreams, began a new career and the journey that brings me to where I am today. 

I am a mobile dog groomer, dog walker and dog behavioral trainer.  

For as long as I can remember, I have had a passion for animals and wanted to work with animals.  If you had asked me what I was going to be growing up, my answer would be "a veternarian".  In my Junior year of High School, during the college choice days, I went to the Guidance Counselor and was asked this question.  Once again, I was confident and gave my answer, I watched as she looked down at the sheet that held my grades and then heard her say, "you'll never make it with your grades".  I was crushed.  I left the office, and my goal of being a veternarian were put away.  

Fast forward 30 some years and after a friend saw an announcement for a new small group meeting in a nearby town, we decided to go check it out.  That is where I met Stephanie, who is a Life Coach and she  began talking about how she is helping people to reach the goals they wanted in their life.  My friend quickly put me in the spotlight and the conversation turned to something that I wanted very badly but wasn't happening.  Stephanie asked what that was and I explained that I had recently taken a course to become a dog groomer.  I took the classes, groomed over 250 and had taken an exam and was a certifed dog groomer.  The only thing was, I wasn't doing anything about it.  I wasn't doing anything because I was afraid that if I gave up my corporate job and that paycheck that came every two weeks, I would not be able to live if I wasn't a successful groomer.  

Stephanie's eyes lit up and she began to ask questions about how I thought I could make sure that I could have a successful dog grooming business.  I responded and agreed that the next time we met, I would have taken one step toward having a successful dog grooming business.

For the first time in a very long time, I felt confident and energized about my decision on following my dream.  

It begins with one small step.