Retro daddy came home late this week and everyone was in bed, I called out that I was studying. He said what. I said you know the course I’m doing. He said what course. I said you know the one I’m doing that I told you about last year. But last year I decided that I had to do something. There aren’t many courses you can really go on as a blogger and I had heard great things about it so I paid off the fees in monthly instalments (I’m still paying) and signed up. And I’m loving it.
It certainly has me thinking about what I want to do and what makes me happy. Writing down all of the things you love to do and how you could turn that into a business. Very interesting. So often we just get on with the day to day without sitting down with pen and paper and writing things down. Or we devote all of our energy to our family and forget about what we really want.
It’s also made me realise that being a positive and open person is a good thing and that we have made dreams happen. Remember when I walked on glass up at the Whitsundays? Well that was totally out of character but it was part of an exercise on facing our fears so that we can achieve our dreams. We had to close our eyes and think of our goals for 1 year and 5 years ahead. My goal was just to move to acreage. That was pretty much it. It involved apple trees, my kids picking apples off the trees, having space to run around and acres.I stared at that broken glass and said I’m not doing it. Then I said if I don’t do it I’ll go home and regret it. So I did it. And I felt great afterwards.
And we have made that dream happen. It’s been a dream for a while and it has taken us outside of our comfort zone. It’s been stressful. We had offers knocked back a couple of times. We even made an offer on a serious fixer upper that was so depressing it made someone go back and do some number crunching and reevaluate our budget but now I can look back on it and laugh as it’s part of our story and journey to owning something fabulous.
Anyway over to you – sit down with a pen and paper or let me know what your dream is. Is it to not having to return to the workforce? Getting fit and healthy and back to your old self? Finding your passion because you just don’t know what it is? Leaving the suburbs and having a big property? Learning a craft or hobby? Turning your hobby into your business? I would just love to find out what it is that you dream about doing…………………..
I love this blog post Corrie, it has motivated me to think about the next step for our family and how to achieve it.
My dream…..Hinterland acreage, working from home with my little business fulltime, teaching others the art of crochet….living my best life with my 3 boys and our pets
I am lucky enough to be at home with my family, and I treasure every moment. I have creative hobbies, but I also studied writing a long time ago. My short term dream is to somehow turn my hobbies into a business, to help my family and to keep me at home raising my kids (being with my family has been my dream since I was a little girl), and the long term goal is to get my novels done and published to share with the rest of the world. Some days it feels so awfully far away, whilst other days it feels so tantalisingly close, if only I could just reach out and grab it.
I grew up on a farm and couldn’t wait to leave, now I’m in the city with kids and I’m dreaming of going back to the farm…..
I am studying as well. I have just started doing my Cert. III in Education Support. I started just over a week ago. I am enjoying the challenge and using different parts of my brain. I used to always help when my girls were in primary school. So here I am taking the plunge and making a change for a new career. Well and done and good luck to you Corrie. x
At my age its hard. I retired nearly 2 years ago due to health issues and I took up quilting
I have always sown by hand, my curtains, things for my daughter. I knew I could sew but never had the chance but now I do and I love it, I have meet some lovely ladies and made new friendships.. We are about to start a new journey….we are downsizing our house which is very very scary :(( I have very restless nights thinking why am I giving up my lovely house, I know its too big for the 2 of us, do I want to do this I REALLY DON’T KNOW . But I have achieved a lot of my goals and I am grateful for that. Now all I have to do is let go of my home and move on……………
I’m so excited for you that you are making your acreage dream happen (does this mean you’ve found ‘the one’ now? How wonderful! Such an exciting time for you!)
As you know, I’m really lucky to be living my tree change dream, which I’m really grateful for
At the moment I want to continue to be able to stay home with the kids, to have my sewing dolls turn into a proper business (I need to work out what records I need to keep and how to keep them and work on promotion more). But my ultimate dream is to buy a house here in Sydney in the area we are in. Just need to save more of a deposit! The Adelaide market didn’t set us up very well for the Sydney market!
Such a great post Corrie – thankyou for sharing! My dream is to be able to turn my small pattern business into something much bigger. I would love to be able to design and sew and write all day while being home with my baby. I work part time on the property we love on and I love the flexibility of being at home – having my own business though, and working towards an ultimate goal of my own fabric line for all those patterns is what I am working towards {more secretly than realistically at this stage but working towards it nonetheless!}
Its great to hear you’re making your dreams happen – a big move, a baby and BSchool! My dream for many years has to become a Registered Nurse and to run my first marathon. I’m so glad I’m making these happen this year – its a journey I’m really enjoying. Best wishes with making your dreams happen.
My currently dream is to get my Early Childhood Teaching degree and I started on Monday last week. It’s going to be a challenge working it in around work and a thousand of other things that I am trying to do at the same time (blogging, loosing weight, keeping in touch with family that is over 10 hours away) but I know that if I keep at it and slog away everything will be better!
Sophie
Hi Corrie yep I too have made a lot of discoveries about me in the first week of B School. I kinda thought I knew myself quite well after 56 years but maybe not. This is the very first time I have actually got all the things in my head down on paper and it has been exhausting but amazing. I don’t know exactly where it will lead for me but I know I am moving ahead instead of just being on my ‘hamster wheel’ hope your hunt for that special place is going well, Moya
OK, there are a few
1) For my and my husband’s creative businesses to take off. It’s been a long time trying and it’s not happening, but we’re still trying.
2) (Which is very much tied to number 1). To leave this yucky city in which we live and move to a wonderful coastal town that we love.
3) That our children grow up to be happy and holy and that we all meet again in Heaven (and I hope you’ll be there too Corrie!)
I read Robyn’s comment with great interest and know how she is feeling. It’s now 2 years since we sold our big family “dream” home and my heart still grieves for it but my head knows it was right to move on. I still catch up occasionally with the new “lady of the house”……most unusual but very special. We moved to another home we owned which has allowed us the privilege of helping to care for our grandsons while their parents run a 7 day a week business. One of my dreams was to have been able to have more children so this is like a special gift for missing out. I am now planning our next downsized dream home so lots of plans, notes and colour schemes etc on paper and in my head and now I can close my eyes and walk through it in my day dreams.
And another thing I might just start a blog one day…..we are never too old to live our dreams!
I’m living my dream! I have a wonderful hubby, three beautiful girls and I’m healthy! I also hit “publish” on the first post on my own blog (www.applebeelane.com.au) just two weeks ago. That was a dream that I’d been working on for a whole year … so my dream has now become a reality! Congratulations on your move to acreage.
I became chronically ill 14 years ago at what at the time felt like the pinacle of my life. I have always wanted to travel & was working towards making that a reality with my husband & kids. As I have become more disabled & also taken many more medications, I have put on a lot of weight. It is my dream to be able to lose some of the weight & hopefully be able to regain some ability so that it is easier for us to contemplate travelling. We currently go on local cruises, but I would love to go further afield
Here’s hoping!
Im doing Bschool too! so excited and scared, have followed your blogs for sometime but haven’t check in for a while have you also linked through to the Sydney B school
My dream is for my kids to be kind, compassionate, respectful and resilient. I dream to have a large family too but I’m not sure if that’ll happen (hubby is happy with our two). I’m also dreaming of finding an independence from other people (emotionally) and finding a passion. I really look forward to finding that.
Your post really resonates with me Corrie. I am 54, a Primary teacher, although now only doing relief work..I love to quilt and knit and garden and dabble a little in painting up old furniture etc……and I ‘think’ I would like to write a blog. I am excellent at wasting time reading all the amazing bogs I have found, especially the travel, craft and interior design ones. My kids are nearly all grown up, but still needing financial support so I have to work. I am lucky I can earn good money casual teaching but I would like to use some of my other interests to earn a living….just not sure how and very lacking in confidence to bravely venture into something else. Like Moya, I feel stuck on that hamster wheel….I dream of earning a living while combining all my interests and maybe my teaching degree and experience, with good pay and lots of travel thrown in…..any ideas anybody??
You amaze me Corrie, with your talent for craft, 5 children and another on the way, writing a blog, renovating, house hunting and now an online course also….wish I had half your pizazz and zest for life. Thanks so much for your inspiring blog..I love it xo
Hello Corrie, I do enjoy reading your blog. There’s always a strong narrative flow… I’m dead keen to keep up with your new home and new baby stories. Anyway, maybe next year I might do a course like you are. This year I decided to focus on photography and am doing a Cert 4 online through Open Colleges. It is FAB to learn totally new things, and to try to improve my design skills which I have always felt lacking in. Next year might be another book or maybe really going mad with my blog – I do love blogging and I love travel so… Anyway, just saying g’day and looking forward to keeping up with your family story.
My dream for now is to lose 30kgs, I stepped out of my comfort zone earlier this year and joined a gym, yes a gym. I can hardly believe it myself, I always said I’d never be a gym junkie and it was a decision not taken lightly but I am so happy now I made that decision. I really need to lose this weight for a few health reasons so I tossed up about going to Weight Watchers AGAIN although this means I would still need to exercise, my only exercise regime was walking however I am a seasonal walker, I won’t walk in HOT weather or COLD weather. So I had a conversation with myself (LOL) and told myself I know what I should be doing in the food department as I have been to WW previously and have all the information and cook books I need. The next issue was making it work into our budget, the gym is quite a bit cheaper than WW so that was the decision made – joining a gym was the answer. The first couple of weeks I felt so self conscious about how I looked in workout clothes and looking around at all the trim n fit people at the gym but I am over that now and walk in with my head held high knowing I have made a positive choice. It has now been 6 weeks and I have lost 4.1kgs, still a looong way to go but I am happy. The gym I chose to join is 3 buildings away from where I work in Brisbane CBD so I go at lunch time, there is also the same gym down where I live which means I can also go on the weekends. As I had never stepped foot into a gym previously I had not idea how to use any of the machines etc, so I decided to enlist the services of a PT instructor twice a week for a couple of months for guidance plus push me along to help me reach my goals. I am so happy with the decision I have made.