When I was young, I had big, audacious dreams, and I advocated for them. There’s a key conversation from my culinary school interview that illustrates this:
Admissions officer “Why do you want to go to culinary school?”
Me: “I want to help people enjoy cooking. Regular people. In families these days, both parents work, and it’s hard to balance working, having a family and a home life. I want to help people feel good about their kitchen skills. My hope is to eventually have a TV show, write cookbooks, that sort of thing.”
The admissions officer gave me a smirk and an eye roll and said, “Sure. Lots of our students want to be on TV.”
And my response, “Well, I’m going to do that. And I want to know if this school will help me get there.”
Cut to the future: I did and they did. They gave me solid training and opportunities to assist at The James Beard House. They helped me land an externship with Jean Georges, and even made introductions so that I could get a job with Martha.
I dreamed big and made it happen in my 20s and 30s. As I crept closer to 40 my dreams moved toward having a family (just made it as my biological window was closing), and my dreams are now more focused on about helping clients in my practice and raising children who don’t suck.
I think it’s time to dream bigger. My kids can bike themselves to camp, and teachers give them positive kindness reports and so my hope is that I can start to ease into more of an advisor role with them, no longer white knuckling at the steering wheel (thanks, covid). In addition to supporting clients in my practice, I also want to coach for positive global impact, and take a leadership role in the coaching industry.
Those dreams aren’t going to make themselves happen! So I’m committing to myself and you that it’s time to level up.
How about you? Are You Dreaming Big Enough? Try my…
Q&A for Dreamers:
- What dreams did you have as a child or young adult? What did you achieve?
- If I told you that your dreams will happen, what might you let yourself dream about?
- Who are the people in the world you want to support (beyond the people you already know)?
- What significant, positive change would you like to see in the world?
- Which of your achievements are you most proud of?
- What might you dream now (and who can you share it with?
You might be perfectly content right now, and your dream is to have a restful summer. Or maybe you’re feeling stuck, or itchy and want to take the next six months to get healthy (physically and mentally) to power your 2024 ambitions. I’d love to hear your thoughts on this.
Lots of love to you in this hot and playful time of year. I just spent a rainy Sunday at the movies with the kids and deeply appreciated the graceful closure for Harrison Ford playing Indiana Jones. May we all get to recap and say goodbye to our professional accomplishments with this level of personal awareness and emotional dignity.
Love,
Allison
From My Blog:
- The 6 Best Life Coaching Books for 2023
- The 7 Best Self-Care Books for 2023
- The 6 Best Books about Neuroscience for 2023
- Best Books for Mindfulness for 2023
