There are just over 7 billion people on the planet. With such an outstanding number where does that leave my chances of becoming rich? Or accomplished? Or well-known? For most of us, we may never have those opportunities. However, I don’t believe life is made up too much of a series of lucky chances. I believe well planned out goals, hard work, determination and a big jar of passion can take you anywhere in life.
Take me for instance, I am really a nobody. I am neither rich nor poor. I am a daughter of two hardworking parents who really never had much in life. Yet, I have begun to make small, but deliberate steps into growing my career as a writer. I first realized you can take life where ever you choose to, back in my college days. Back then, I thought the beauty in life and my existence laid in poetry and the spoken word. Living in a city between Milwaukee and Chicago, I wanted to bring more poetry to my city. You see at the time, you could find many poetry shows in Chicago and many in Milwaukee, but the poetry scene was virtually nonexistent in my town. All it took was a couple emails to a few local bars and BAM! I was hosting a poetry show for about a year or so, bringing in some well-known poetry artists from across the United States. It just took me wanting something and asking for it. And of course, a little bit of work to make it all come together. That was my first realization that I could become somebody.
A few years later, I wanted to do more with my writing, not just poetry. I answered a Craigslist job advertisement that wanted an on-site writer to write about furniture and home decoration. In truth, I knew very little about furniture or home decoration. But, armed with some samples of my writing, I went to the interview and nailed it. For the next two years, I was writing 6-8 articles a day on everything that had to do with furniture, decorating, color schemes, you name it, I wrote it. However, two years in, I realized my goals were not yet complete. I was on my way to being somebody that I wanted to be, but I wasn’t there yet.
After two years of writing for someone else, I took my boldest move yet and decided to work from home as a freelance writer. 6 years later, I am still doing it. It has been a long and slow process, but it has been on my terms, I am my own boss, I am less stressed and I am starting to see the fruits of my work.
I have learned you can do anything you want. It takes more than a desire to be somebody. You have to stop dreaming about what you want to do and actually start doing it! It’s that simple. You won’t succeed until you actually try. And you may fail along the way, we all do, but that does not mean giving up on yourself. In reality, failure is just a challenge to push you into succeeding.
There have been about a million times I have wanted to throw in the towel and just quit. Some days, I still think about quitting. However, the more I push myself to become a better writer, to get more of my work published, the stronger I have become. Right now, maybe I am still trying to be somebody. I may always strive to be a future somebody of myself. However, you have to realize, I have chosen to live life on my terms. I have chosen not to be defined by my job, instead, I define my job. By doing what I desire I can become anybody I want to be. You can do whatever you want to. Just dream it, plan it and get to work. You will be amazed at what you can accomplish when you start carving your own path.