“Go confidently in the direction of your dreams! Live the life you’ve imagined.” – Thoreau
The first time I saw this quote was the last time I was living in San Diego, prior to my move out east. I was doing some shopping in Fashion Valley and happened to stop into the Metropolitan Museum Store where I was drawn to the magnets from Quotable Cards. This was one of two that made the cut that day. They came home with me and went immediately onto the fridge. At the time, I was living with a band made up of my fiancé and some friends in Encinitas while I finished grad school at SDSU. The magnets came with me to Manhattan following graduation where they took up a fair amount of prime real estate on the college-sized fridge in my studio apartment on the Upper West Side. They made themselves comfortable on the fridge of my first home in Wethersfield, Connecticut, where they held up the bib number from my first ever 5k and the class schedule from my gym. Now, they wait patiently in storage for me to get back on my feet in San Diego.
The quote itself has made a couple more recent reappearances in my life. It is imprinted on a bookmark given to me by my soon-to-be ex-husband in May, back when we were trying to work things out. It is emblazoned on a plaque given to me by one of my best friends this past Christmas, as we came to terms with our impending 3,000 mile separation resulting from my relocation back to San Diego following the divorce filing. And it serves as a reminder in the journal/calendar/scrapbook put together by a dear friend and given to me the night before I pulled away from my home this past January in a Budget rental truck that this is the year that is mine to follow my dreams.
We all have those times in our lives when we are met with a genuine opportunity to follow those dreams. It may come as a result of a graduation, a relocation, a divorce, a career change, sending the last child off to college. Suddenly, our focus shifts, and we are able to ask ourselves, what do I want for my life? What are my dreams? What we do with these opportunities is completely up to us. The incredible thing is that no matter what we choose to do, no matter where our dreams may take us, we have those people in our lives, the ones cheering us on and encouraging us to reach out and grab our own happiness, to rely on. They are our friends and families, and there is nothing they would like more than to see us turn those dreams into realities. They are the ones who will be there to catch us should anything go wrong. So this year, I encourage each and every one of the people reading this, take one risk in the name of happiness. Stretch up on your tip toes and reach for one dream, no matter how small, without the fear of falling. Find at least one way to incorporate more joy into your life. And then take a minute to look around you and thank those people who are there, smiling, helping you realize you never have to take that risk alone.
Originally posted for Examiner.com at http://www.examiner.com/article/go-confidently-thoreau