I can't think of a specific ONE thing in my life that I am especially proud of. There are many things that fill me with pride and gratitude when I think about them. They are varied and mostly unrelated, but the one thing that they have in common is that they are all goals that I have achieved when it would have been easier just to give up.
The first goal was to finish high school. I rarely tell people this, but I have been bullied for most of my school career. It became so bad at one point that I actually went to speak to the vice principal of the high school about leaving school altogether. We had a long conversation and I cried a few buckets, but in the end I committed myself to seeing that year through. And the next. And the next.
The second goal was to get my drivers' license. Once again I believed a bully that told me that I would never amount to much. And when he was finally out of my life, I got driving!
I finished my 3-year bachelors' degree in 13 1/2 years! I am sure that is some kind of record. In my defense, I have to say that I paid for my studies myself and that I did not enroll every year due to financial constraints. I went to a swanky restaurant the night I got my final results and toasted myself with a bottle of good wine.
The last goal was to get rid of a small mountain of debt. I did. It felt fantastic! Yes, it wasn't easy and some months I starved, but it is done.
Currently, I have significant goals and dreams to build myself a life on an off-grid smallholding somewhere in the boondocks. There are many people who tell me it can't be done, and even if it can, that I can't do it. I understand that they love me and want to protect me, but this is a calculated risk that only I can take. After all, nothing grows in a comfort zone.
And I won't be going alone...
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