Following your dreams might be a slow process
In 2014 I was working in an corporate IT job and I attended a workshop on the benefits of setting SMART goals. I think the intention of the workshop was to make us more productive employees by explaining that goals should be Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Timebound (there are a few variations to these but you get the idea). They also gave us a box of Smarties, which for me was always a winner. I am on board with any workshop where they give you free food!
It wasn't the first time I'd heard this acronym and it certainly wouldn't be the last! It was a good reminder for the work that I was doing at the time and I'm sure I applied the practice for at least the next few weeks :D
What I remember most about that workshop though is that I came away thinking - I want more from life! I don't know what activity during the workshop made me think that - possibly a 'where do you see yourself in 5 years' kind of thing.
It wasn't that I didn't enjoy my job or wasn't being challenged and fulfilled - I very much enjoyed my job, loved a lot of the people I worked with, was learning a lot and got satisfaction out of what I was doing. However, there was something calling out to me that said 'I don't want to be doing this in 5 years time'. I had no idea what I really wanted or how I was going to do it but that was the beginning of a new journey for me.
At first I didn't do terribly much to change the course of my life but I was open to new opportunities, I was on the look out for something that would inspire me.
12 months after that workshop I got very sick and went to see a Nutritionist who changed my life, in many ways. 6 months after that I enrolled part time in a bachelor degree in nutrition - the first time I had ever enrolled in university. 4 years after that I quit my job, sold most of my stuff and put the rest in storage to finish my degree full time. 15 months after that I completed my degree, started my own business and also started working for the same Nutritionist that I'd been to see as a client 6 years earlier.
I kept this (empty) Smartie box on my desk for the 5 years I was still at that job to always remind me of that inner desire. I remember looking at it - sometimes feeling frustrated that things were moving so slow and that I was still in the same job, other times it gave me a spurt of energy and inspiration to keep going, but every time it reminded me of that desire for more.
Today, 7 years after that workshop, I unpacked the Smartie box from storage and smiled. It’s been a very bumpy journey and there are still so many challenges ahead - but now it reminds me that I gave up everything to follow my dreams and I couldn’t be happier!