A Chance to Try
I have been in a bad place lately, and I just couldn’t bring myself to blog any of it. It all sounded like ‘wah, wah, wah, miserable Dannielle is miserable again’ and I just didn’t want to share the wah fest. My anxiety has been high and I’ve struggled to not let it get on top of me.
Coming home has been much harder than I anticipated. In fact, I don’t really know what I was anticipating but feeling like a square peg trying to fit in a round hole wasn’t it. Then I saw this quote (which I remade here) on Pinterest, that I’ve seen so many times before, but this time I really read it:
And I sat there and thought to myself: YES, maybe I will. So I had a bit of a think about the things I always wanted to do and each time I did, it came back to two related things: interior design and styling. I’ve always been fascinated by interior design, in fact it was what I wanted to be when I grew up (when I was 13 and everyone else wanted to be a marine biologist). But I’ve always been too scared to try.
So yesterday, I put my brave face on and signed up to a proper short course on Interior Design and I start next week! It’s been a while since I felt so excited about something, but in sharing it with people yesterday the response was overwhelmingly positive and it made me just that little bit less nervous and just a little bit more like I’m finding my feet. I’m looking for something that I will be happy working crazy hours at and will be something that can grow with me.
Maybe this is just what I’m looking for, and maybe it isn’t. But I’ll never know until I try and I’m taking the happy ‘this feels right’ feeling and running with it. 27 was always going to be a big year of change for me and one big adventure. So far it’s got lots of twists and turns that I didn’t expect, but change is good for the soul.
I have some exciting ideas that I’m going to work on, and for now I’m feeling great. I’ll take great over miserable any day. Can’t wait to tell you all about this course and how it goes.
xx
I Had a (Crazy) Dream
Once upon a time, June 2012 to be exact, I had a crazy dream of travelling across the United States and seeing ‘the real America’. I wanted to stop and see some of the wonderful people that my online business had given me the opportunity to get to know, and I wanted to do it in style*.
I had a crazy dream of attending the conference that so many creatives in my industry want to attend, Alt Summit. But it all seemed too far fetched. The business was having a slow month. I was feeling really low and only had $200 in savings and had bills that needed paying. So I made a ‘what have I got to lose’ plan. I never thought for a second that I could pull it off. I’d tried before and it had flopped and I just thought it would again. But it didn’t. I broke everything down into tiny little goals, and focused on them one at a time: Renew Passport. Apply for visa. Follow application process. Work job that brings in money – even though you don’t like it there. Save like crazy. Share it with your community.
Slowly but surely, the bank account grew, and the plans started to fall into place. From behind the computer screen, it all seemed so surreal. Was this actually going to happen? Could I actually get this massive trip with all the stops and actually do the whole thing without a credit card? And then in November, 2012 it started to come true. I booked the international flights. That was it, the plan was now set in motion. Everything I planned for and worked crazy hard for was actually coming true! Holy moly, I could do it!
On January 17, 2013, as so many of you know the 27 adventure started. I had a crazy dream and I made it come true 7 months after I thought it up, and that’s how I know you can do it too. It doesn’t have to apply to travel only, it can be for any BIG dream. What I realised is that it’s all about breaking it down into something that you know that you can handle. It’s about to-do lists and timelines and the biggest Eep! of all: budgets. But if I can do it, you can too, and I can show you exactly how.
Wouldn’t it be brilliant to have a plan on how to make that crazy big dream become a reality? I can tell you that the Brooklyn Bridge is as amazing as I had always imagined it, and whilst that may not be your dream, just seeing and doing what you love makes all the difference in the world. I believe that this year is the year that we should all take a chance on ourselves. To make a plan that won’t lose us anything if we don’t act, but can make things something so much more!
I can tell you first hand that living the dream is a-ma-zing and so worth the decisions I made and the hard work it took to get here. This has been by far the most amazing 3+ months of my life and I wouldn’t exchange it for anything. It’s inspired me so much that I’m already starting on the next crazy dream.
If you’ve been wanting to make your BIG dream happen but you’re stuck on the how and the when, I can help! I’ve created an e-course that takes you through the steps and helps you make the best plan possible with all the steps you need to make it work (in a way that works for you). Join me for Making Bold Plans starting April 22!
*Style=not Youth Hostels but Hotels with free Wifi.
Stopping to Recognise Success
This past 24 hours of talking to friends and family about this journey and where I’m at right now has made me realise something: I did it.
I set myself the goal of making enough money to move to Canada with a trip across the USA on the way. Had you asked me what the plan was after I got here, as many of you did, I pretty much said that I’d work it out when I got here. I thought it was because I was going to trust my gut and that things have a way of working out. But I realised just today, that this part wasn’t really in the goal.
The true goal was to give me something solid and huge to focus on last year when I was so scared of the future it felt paralysing. It was to prove to myself that if I put my mind to it I could use my awesome planning and strategy skills to turn a near empty bank account and a dream that seemed impossible into a reality.
I did that. I’m here in Toronto, on my 10th stop of 10 on my 27 adventure. High fives to me!!
I don’t really know what’s coming next for me here as it’s crazy hard to find work and seemingly near impossible to find somewhere to live that I would feel comfortable living in. Tonight I’m feeling totally calm about that. I made this dream come true and whatever happens next won’t change that.
I’m proud to say that when things were tough I found something to believe in and a way to change my mind. I got to do what I love most and travel and see some amazing and very different places. I’m not great at recognising the good things, but today I’m going to say: Go Me!! I worked hard to make this happen and I’m now inspired to start making the next big thing a reality.
I also wanted to say a HUGE thank you to everyone who has supported me through this, there are so many of you who helped me feel brave enough to make this happen.
For tonight, I’m doing just fine.
xx
