Can You Really Have What You Want? Part I

As you read this, I'm taking an actual vacation. (Yes!! That's right folks … she actually put away the computer!) So I've taken the liberty of posting some favorite entries from my ezine, The Joy Letter. Hope they give you food for thought. And do drop by and sign up if you feel you want a tad more joy in your life. You'll get our cool 'Make a Dream Binder' freebie as a gift.

Do you really believe you can have what you want? Or do you tend to operate with your feet in two camps -- one that says, 'I'm going out there and pursue my dream' and another that says, 'I'll also hedge my bets by doing something I don't love that much, just in case the dream thing doesn't work out.' This is what a life coach I worked with, Persephone Zill, would call "indirectness".

I am here to say, indirectness doesn't work.

I spent a lot of time in life hedging my bets under the mistaken illusion that this was mature, business-like behavior. The real irony is that seldom have these supposedly businesslike ideas ever produced income or other results that I thought for sure they would.

The urge to hedge your bets often runs contrary to everything your gut instincts scream at you to do.

Your instinct says 'Quit the job! Go get licensed! Be a teacher kids never forget!" Meanwhile, you hedge your bets by continuing to do work that doesn't feed your soul, and taking a course here and there that never really moves you any closer to the dream.

You justify your lack of action by insisting you can't afford to quit your job, or deciding you don't want to change your lifestyle and live on a teacher's salary. 

And yet ... what do you want? Do you want a life that's half-way, but never all the way, to the dream? Do you want the excuses, or do you want the results? For a lot of us, the excuses, and the half-baked life are all we think we deserve.

I'll post more on this topic tomorrow. How about you? Where are you hedging your own bets?

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