Dreams Don’t Come With an Expiration Date

I don’t know about you, but sometimes I find that my dreams, goals, and aspirations don’t always come in the order that I first imagined they would. Often, we find that we must put one dream on the back burner to give room for a new dream, a dream with a little more urgency. Although I continued to work toward my goal of being a writer, I also began to visualize myself as an entrepreneur, an owner of my own business. Therefore, I changed direction and began to put my efforts into opening a small retail establishment in a brand new development called Gardner Historic Village.

I was young, full of vim and vigor, and extremely naive as to how to go about being a businesswoman. I hadn’t even taken a single business class in my years at college. But that didn’t stop me. I blundered my way forward and opened Sweet Afton’s, an old-fashioned candy and gift shop. Over the next 20+ years, I paid many an IRS fine for late fees, learned the benefits of having an actual accountant, went from a 720 sq. ft. storefront to 2,040 sq. ft., and fell in love with the challenges and blessings of doing something as exciting, rewarding, and creative as retail can be.

I guess the point of this blog is to say, “It’s okay to get sidetracked. It’s okay to make a few adjustments in our plans.” Permit yourself to be excited about lots of different paths in life. You don’t have to keep to a schedule so rigid that you begin to feel stifled and unfulfilled. Dreams don’t come with an expiration date. And, they can be put on the shelf for a little bit, until you are ready to visit them again.

I’d love to hear about some of your dreams. Realized or not. What floats your boat, tickles your fancy, and gets your creative juices flowing? Care to share?

Talk again soon,

Anne