Chasing Childhood Dreams

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In my previous blog I posted about my childhood dream of becoming a published author of childrens books. I can honestly say that it’s scary as heck putting myself out there.

What if they hate me? What if they hate what I write, or how I write? What if I make a big fool of myself? What if I am not good enough? Or what if I don’t have what “it” takes?

All of those debilitating questions formerly ruminated in my mind and hindered me from taking action.

When I think back on my life though, I wonder, what happened to me? What happened to that invincible spirit that I was once endowed with?

Where is that girl who (at only 17 years old) seized every opportunity with so much eagerness? That girl that was so ready to conquer the world?

That girl that was a pioneer and not a settler. She was a risk taker not a hesitator. She was neither a leader, nor a follower. Naturally, she was a loner (Something that I used to be embarrassed by, but now embrace as a super power).

Somewhere along this life journey I lost her self-reliant spirit.

Day by day I am striving to regain that spirit once again. Deliberately living my life by my own design, and without second guessing myself. Making decisions that I finally feel are in sync with my future destiny.

I don’t have it all figured out, but I am glad that I rediscovered my childhood dream again. The one that has always felt right. The one that was always there but needed to be revived.

The day before yesterday I came across an old home video of my youngest daughter ๐Ÿ’ƒ dancing from a few years ago.

I can recall that day I recorded her vividly in my mind. I remember begging her,

“Mija will you dance for me, like you used to do when you were just a little baby girl?”

I reminded her of how she used to prance around and dance beautifully. She only agreed, to appease me of course. But still, it is one of my favorite home videos. Because watching your baby girls grow up is priceless.

She had zero dance instruction. It was all her own childhood spirit.

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=822552324437934&id=100000495233274

The night I recorded that video of my daughter, I cried myself to sleep after I prayed and talked to God.

I said in my prayer to God…something like”God it’s me. I am so blessed to be the mommy of these two beautiful little girls. But how can it be that you made one of my little girls a dancer, when I can not afford for her to get any type of ๐Ÿ’ƒ instruction? Or provide either of them any form of enrichment programs?”

“God you know that I want to give these little girls the world. But I don’t have money to pay for her to take dance classes or the other one to take ๐ŸŽน piano lessons. This is a dream that can be expensive for any mother much less a divorcee single mother,(Which I was at that time) So God, I am asking YOU. If YOU made her to be a dancer, then I trust that YOU will open some doors for her. God YOU are father of the fatherless. So I leave this dream of hers in YOUR hands”

I literally gave it to God and went to sleep.

I completely forgot about that prayer as a couple of weeks had passed. But then one day I found some information online about a ministry that was led by Mrs. KaitlinOConnell Owens at Wonderfully Made Ballet Studio. I sent a quick question to her via e-mail.

Then one day I received an e-mail response from her. She said she was trained in classical ballet. She told me how this ministry was established for any person who had a desire to dance, to be able to have that opportunity. She told me about how this was a donation based studio and anyone could come and learn and pay what they could in the form of a donation.

It was GOD who opened a door for my babygirl to have an opportunity to dance. She was able to attend a couple of semesters.

I am eternally grateful to the school and Wonderfully Made Ballet Studio and Mrs. Kaitlin for being a part of God’s awnser to this mothers prayer.

Now I have not been able to take her to anymore classes since I started working again. Nor do I know if my daughter will ever get a chance to do it again.

But I have a suspicion that her spirit is that of a dancer. And that one way or another she will always gravitate back to her childhood dreams(Only God and Time will tell.)

Yesterday was also the 15th Birthday of my oldest daughter. It’s particularly important in my Mexican culture, because it is a coming of age type celebration. Where she has earned her rite of passage into womanhood. Typically the family has a church ceremony and fiesta celebration afterwards called a quinceanera.

So in reference to childhood dreams, I lament that she will no longer be my little ๐Ÿ‘งgirl, rather she is my little woman now. She will embark on her own journey of self-discovery.

As you can guess my life is busy and full. I have to carve out time to become the me that I’m trying to be, and simultaneously be a working mother who supports my childrens dreams. I feel sleep deprived lately, yet determined to push forward.

My prayer is that all of you may find your chilhood dream. Whatever it is that you are most passionate about. That you would pursue it. And may it come true for you, and for me, and for all of us who are diligently working on our dreams.

Becoming Me

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At 24 years old I applied to the Institute of Children’s Literature. It has always been a dream of mine to publish a children’s book.

I had to send in a written essay. They read over the essays and select some applicants.

Well, I was so happy when I received my letter of acceptance saying that my essay impressed them.

Regrettably, I quit after my first assignment. I’m now 34 years old. Ten years have passed and I have started many projects and either quit them or failed them.

I hate revealing that about myself really. But I’m a pretty great “failure”. Or I should say I’m excellent at creating ideas and starting them, but I’m horrible at seeing them through.

At one point a family member told me to my face that she didn’t want to be “pathetic” like me. Effing OUCH!

Not that I expect everyone to want to emulate me anyway, but it still hurt.

It’s like, wait what? I didn’t think my life was so bad. I may not be where I thought I would be by now, but my life’s not that bad.

Booker T. Washington once said,

“Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome while trying to succeed.”

My dreams of being a writer would still be just a dream, had I not lost my dad in 2016. His death has shaken me to the core.

I have a new problem now. I feel like I can’t WASTE any time. And especially not another decade.

Obviously there were detours in my life, but how did I get so complacent and stagnant with my ambitions?

So here I am. It’s now the year 2017. Everyone is making resolutions. I don’t even begin to know what resolutions to make in my life….because I never complete them.

So if I make a few and accomplish any, I will consider it a success.

Deanna’s 2017 New Year’s Resolutions

  • Write 1 blog per week at minimum for my blog CANDID CHICANA.
  • Write my children’s books.
  • Revisit some of my incomplete projects that I still can’t let go of and finish or complete them.
  • Put down my cell phone in the company of friends(a new personal conviction of mine.
  • Play with my children, read to my children, and love every second I have with them.
  • Inspire and influence others in a positive way.

I can’t fret over my past, nor will I be discouraged by it. Instead, I will use all of it to mold me into a better me.

Do you have dreams that are hidden and long forgotten? Maybe it’s time for you to revisit those dreams….and go after them. After all, it will take action.

God bless you all this year! May 2017 be your year of prosperity!๐ŸŽ‰๐ŸŽŠ

Manifesting Your Self-fulfilling Prophecy

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I first learned the concept of the self fulfilling prophecy in college. I believe it was during an Intro to Teaching course. Back when I thought I wanted to be a junior high teacher.

Self-fulfilling prophecy is a term coined by Robert Merton in 1948 to describe “a false definition of the situation evoking a new behavior which makes the originally false conception come true”(Bearman, Peter & Headstrom, Peter, pp 294-314). My own definition and explanation of a self-fulfilling prophecy can be summed up with the modern adage,

“Fake it,until you make it.”

I seriously must be the only person who just can’t figure out exactly what I want to be when I grow up (Mind you I’m about to turn 35 and I should have my sh** figured out by now). I just haven’t been able to commit to any one thing. Partly because I am interested in several fields of work.

Here’s a list of all of all the things I’ve said I wanted to be when I grow up”:

Writer/News Reporter/Journalist,Junior High Reading Teacher,Counselor/Life Coach/Mental Health Specialist, Psychologist,Published Author (Genre: Children’s),Post-Secondary Educator:(Sociology)(Chicano/Ethnic Studies),Small Business Owner,Establishing a Private School,Literature or Language Arts Teacher.

Now that I AM grown up, my ambitions seem to be compounding in grandiosity . What I mean is…instead of being more practical, my ambitions seem to be growing and evolving into what seems to be an unobtainable dream. And they aren’t slowing down or diminishing in area.

My revised list of what I want to be when I grow up has changed. My new list includes:

Magazine Creator, Blogger, Social Media Marketer/Content Marketer, Philanthropist, Newspaper Creator, ๐ŸŽฅ Film/Video/Documentary Maker, Marketing Manager.

The only conclusion that I can come to is that no matter which road I choose, I will be doing exactly what I am meant to be doing. And that is storytelling. Therefore I do hereby declare myself a storyteller with the potential to become a Master Storyteller.

My personal self fulfilling prophecy is that I will become a Master Storyteller. It will seem effortless only because it is MY calling. I am ready to map out some of my goals and create a new ten year goal sheet for my fabulous future. I am ready for my masterpiece manifestation in the art of storytelling.

What are some of your grandiose dreams and ambitions? Better yet what do you want to be when YOU grow up? Or have you already been fortunate to land your dream job?

Whether you have your dream job or not, why not set some self-fulfilling prophecies for yourself? They can be personal, professional, educational, or for any other areas of your life. Please share some of them with me in the comments section.

Let me leave you with a famous quote that I love by the Victorian novelist, George Eliot:

“It is never too late to be what you might have been.”

George Elliot

Now go out and conquer the world my friends.

To contact me:

dstatam63@bethelu.edu

candidchicana@gmail.com

My Image: Deanna Guadalupe Montalvo

Works Cited:

(Fake it) Unknown author

George Eliot. (n.d.) BrainyQuote.com Retrieved December 4, 2016, from BrainyQuote.com website: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/g/georgee

The Oxford Handbook of Analytical Sociology, ed. Peter Bearman and Peter Headstrom, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009, pp294-314.