Since I was young, I have wanted to be a writer. I would envision myself starting off as an administrative assistant and working my way through the ranks. However, now that I have graduated and I have yet to find a full-time job in my career, my mind is starting to wander to other possibilities, has this happened to you as well? And I have started to become comfortable with my mind wandering. However, when it comes to my goals I am very stubborn.

However, the journey so far has been a struggle and you can see the evidence in my sent inbox replete with job applications spanning months and years. However, despite my sad, sad inbox filled with hopes and dreams this is a dream I just cannot let go of. I still have daydreams of me in an office editing my life away, following leads and researching my butt off; and I am not ready to give that dream away. For those who have not reached their dreams yet, here are some tips that I try to keep in mind to keep me going:

1. Trouble will come and it shouldn’t alter your trajectory.
2. You can do it even when you believe you can’t.
3. Find positive people and hold on to them, they are an important factor in achieving your dreams.
4. Conquer your mind because that will be your biggest downfall in this journey.
5. Don’t get lost in the work, after a while look up and appreciate the journey.

These five tips are great reminders for when I get in a very negative mood when I think about my life and where I want it to go but my reality doesn’t reflect that. The reality of following or trying to follow your dreams is that what you want in life isn’t linear, there are steps but they are vague. There is so clear path and the sooner we understand that the better. That is when we begin to care less about the “natural” flow of life that some of us follow after graduating college. It is going to take a lot of trial and error, for some of us more than others, to get your life the way you want it. The main thing is to not give up, if what you want is truly something that you can see yourself doing, then you owe it to yourself to go ahead and pursue it by any means necessary.

What I try to do is fill myself with inspiration all around me, and one of those places is through social media. As I was browsing Twitter, one of the tweets that I saw by Ava DuVernay truly let me know that the dream that I have for myself is attainable and it goes as follows:

“I picked up a camera for the first time at the age of 32. I continued working a full-time job while directing my first 5 feature length projects. It’s never too late to pursue your passion. But you already know that deep down.”

After reading, that I felt a little better as a woman almost at the quarter century of her life, it is ultimately up to me and the kind of sacrifices I am willing to make to accomplish my dreams. There is no time limit on your dreams, if you truly want to achieve what you say, then you will stop at nothing to do so. Through the fatigue, lack of support from friends and family, the feeling of being left behind in life, are all sacrifices that we make to make our dreams happen. Unfortunately for me through writing this, I am realizing that I haven’t done enough but that’s okay because now that I have realized it, I can now get to work to make my dream happen. What are you willing to or have you given up in pursuit of your dreams?

By: Kaycia Sailsman

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