This is an invitation to women everywhere
to share what they wanted to be
when they grew up, what became of
that aspiration, and what the secret dream
is now that tugs at heart and soul.

Click here to take survey

Add Your Secret Dream

Here's the place for you to post your own Secret Dream.


Some of you will just plunge right in.  Great!  Go for it.

Others may want to follow a little structure, so here are a few questions to get you started:

  1. What's the earliest memory you have of what you wanted to be when you grew up?
  2. How was that aspiration received when you talked about it?
  3. What happened to that childhood dream? Is it present in some form in your life today?
  4. Do you have a current Secret Dream that sparkles in your heart, that your soul yearns to manifest, but that is unsupported by your inner critic / family / practical self ?
  5. What would it take for you to actualize that Secret Dream?

8 comments:

  1. Deah,
    When I was in second grade, the teacher asked all the class to draw a picture of ourselves and then tell the class when we showed our self portrait about what we wanted to do when we grew up. I stood very shyly and held up my drawing of my freckly face with a huge smile my cousin's boyfriend had taught me how to draw with teeth and everything.

    I was afraid to say what I wanted to do with my life after other classmates were saying things like, "policeman", "mother", "doctor", "postman" and even "store clerk". I felt silly and stupid but something burned inside me as I forced myself to say, "I want to save all the children of the world". There was silence. I will NEVER forget the silence of the room. The teacher looked at me and asked, "what?" I could feel my face get hot and my voice struggle to make a sound. I repeated, "save the children of the world?" As a questions really.

    I could hear my classmates laugh. My teacher said, "LeAnn, you can't do that but that is a very sweet idea." I sat back down. While I was walking home, I can remember my heart ached. I couldn't even cry because my heart hurt in such a deep way. I can still feel that girl even now.

    I did go on to help children. I helped create behind the scenes assistance for foster parents. I was a liason for Parents Helping Parents. I was a foster parent my self and later an adoptive parent of of special needs children. I raised four children and helped raise many other children. I have counseled many children and their families and now I am a grandmother, most recently. I think I have done my very best to "save the children of the world" one child at a time. Not such an impossible vison as once thought and not as silly as believed by others. The heart knows best and I am so thankful my heart led me as much as I allowed it to.

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    Replies
    1. Great story LeAnn, thanks for sharing! And good for you for persisting in following that vision for yourself, inspite of the reception you got when you first voiced it.

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  2. Hi Deah :)

    I actually had a childhood dream that came to reality only soooo many years later. I yearned to be a psychotherapist, but was discouraged by my parents. They advised I go for a much bread-earning profession. I studied and worked in a much different field (business adminstration) in my early adulthood years. My dream came reality now in my forties and after a lot of hard work and challenges :)

    I have new dreams today (they are not secret)and am working hard to make these happen too - now that I know that with enough determination, I can do anything :)

    Dania

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    Replies
    1. Hooray Dania!! Good for you for following through and coming back to your original dream and making it happen. What a great example that we DO know what we are meant to do, even when others are perhaps afraid for us.

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  3. Deah,

    My father told me that I should go to a junior college and become a secretary. I stood up to him one day, upon being so encouraged by a special teacher of mine, and said I was going to a four-year college to study business administration. I thought his teeth were going to fall out. Instinctively, I knew that there was much more inside me than to be a secretary. I attended a top college of business management and obtained my degree in business management with a major in marketing.

    Today, being a psychotherapist in private practice, is definitely NOT the end of the road for me. My dream is to be a famous Motivational Speaker. Yes, it is true that I am an extrovert, but because of my inner critic, the dream remains just that as a dream.

    I feel confident that when I am ready, I will go forth and make a huge difference to audiences all around the country. If I could have stood up to my father, a tyrant, then I can and will stand up to face my fears and push forward to become a Motivational Speaker. Time is ticking, and I only have myself to answer to and go forward in life with my dream.

    Naomi

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    1. Naomi, thanks so much for adding your story. Your confidence seems to be already building -- there is a sense of certitude conveyed even in this brief declaration of your dream of becoming a motivational speaker. Right now you're motivating one person at a time. It's a sort of stepping stone, isn't it? I hope you'll let us know when you take the next step in this journey!

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  4. When I was a child I wanted to be two things: a meteorologist and a writer. I didn't want to be a TV weather person, I wanted to be in the National Weather Service office, mapping cold fronts, studying barometric pressures, and making severe weather forecasts.
    When I went to college I considered a major in meteorology, but at the school I originally went to, it was in the engineering department and a drafting class was required. I "knew" there was no way I could manage drafting, since I couldn't even draw a straight line. So I tried a different major, but ended up leaving that school and attending one that didn't even have a meteorology major. Strike one for my dreams!
    For awhile it appeared I might do better with writing. I took writing classes and won a couple of contests. Then I got married and stayed home with my children and had no time for writing. When they were older and I went to graduate school, I had even less time for the writing I had loved in my younger years.
    Now I am 48, and the best thing about being a writer is there is no age limit. I am a freelancer right now, primarily nonfiction, and working to get my short stories and a novel published. I think there is a good chance I will achieve this dream, as long as I am persistent.
    Thank you for the opportunity to tell about my dreams!
    Anita

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    1. Anita, thank you for adding your story here. I think there's something important and powerful in putting voice to the journey we take from early dreams that go unrealized to current one that we're manifesting. Your contribution here helps bring this into focus. All the best to you in your writing and publishing!! ~ Deah

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