Don't Give Up on Your Dreams

In one of the Halos Counseling offices there is an inspirational calendar and on each day there is a different quote. A recent quote that stood out to me was, “Don’t Give Up on Your Dreams.” When I am honest with myself, when thinking about my dreams here are the things that pop into my mind; “I am comfortable with where I am at in life,” “I don’t deserve that dream,” or “It’s too hard to keep moving forward.” When I was in high school, we were all required to take a career class in the tenth grade. In that class, we took a test that revealed which careers lined up best with who we were. The test revealed to me that a career in counseling lined up with who I was very well. I researched it and was interested in a counseling career. I began to tell people that I wanted to be a counselor. When I went off to college it took me almost two years to declare my major. At the time I was scared to commit to a major, afraid to fail, and afraid that something would prevent me from a college degree (finances or mental health). At the time, I was unaware of the things I was afraid of though. It was required of me to declare a major by the end of my sophomore year. After two years of college, I started to believe that I would be able to achieve a college degree. So, I decided to double major in Psychology and Sociology. Once I graduated college, I knew I wanted to become a counselor which meant more education. More schooling didn’t scare me, I enjoyed school and was good at it. But finances did, I decided to go straight into the workforce. I told everyone I wanted to take a break knowing that I would go back one day. I worked for 6+ years until deciding to go back to school. It took many people encouraging me. Plus, some changes at my job that I viewed as negative, to push me back into school. The truth is fear pushed me back on course to follow my dream of becoming a counselor. In my first semester of college, I became sick. It was odd. It came out of nowhere while I was on vacation (another story). I was losing weight and was nervous about what was happening. The doctors did not seem to be concerned because my tests were coming back with normal readings. They believed it was primarily anxiety and stress. So, I stayed in school, continued to work my full-time and part-time jobs, and began a journey on becoming healthier (physically and mentally). Four challenging years later, I was starting my new career as a Mental Health Counselor.  

I have many realistic dreams for my life, and although they are realistic, I find myself always putting them on the backburner of everything else. There are many reasons I continue to push them back, but the truth is I am deserving of my dreams just as you are of yours. What are your dreams? What is holding you back from your dreams? What will help you move forward with achieving your dreams? If these questions are hard for you to answer, Halos Counseling is here to help. Schedule a free consult with us to determine if we're a good fit for you.