Week 2: Dreams, Gifts, and Stars

Q: What are you looking forward to learning and experiencing? What did you learn from the readings and videos this week?

A: I'm really looking forward to the accountability that comes from this class, in the "forcing" me to examine my dreams, goals, desires, efforts, etc.

There were a few elements in this week's readings that spoke to me. Particularly, Jeffrey Thompson's BYU devotional from 6/1/10 entitled, What Is Your Calling in Life? 

"Finding your calling in life may not be a matter of finding the one right job. Instead, it may be that your calling is to bring your unique spiritual gifts to whatever position the Lord blesses you with."

I've struggled all my professional life to truly feel "at home" with my career/jobs. I often feel like I've fraudulently stumbled into each success I've had, but that is lessening a bit as I age. I've also struggled with identifying my talents and gifts. I don't have the obvious ones such as painting, dancing, playing an instrument well, or singing.  When I have taken the time to sit, ponder, examine, and determine what my talents are, it's extremely difficult for me to see them in any marketable light. Perhaps this is why I am actually intrigued by entrepreneurship. I'm not fitting into others' boxes, but defining my own somehow. I'm not there yet. Anyway, Thompson's words bring me comfort. Maybe my skill set, talents, spiritual gifts, etc. aren't going to fit beautifully and obviously into one particular box. Maybe they're designed for me to fit sweetly wherever I go. I'll continue to ponder and pray on this.

I also really enjoyed Stars and Steppingstones. 

"Stars and steppingstones are about finding a purpose in your life: understanding what is fundamentally important, setting lifelong goals, arranging steppingstones to reach those goals, and making course corrections when reality intervenes."

Ain't it the truth! The past 25 years have been one course correction after another. I'm okay with that... now. 

About Randy Pausch's Last Lecture...

{Three or four months ago, my husband and I watched his complete lecture, so I knew what this was about. The condensed version really captured the highlights, obviously.}

• Why do you think Randy Pausch was able to achieve so many of his childhood dreams?
• Do you feel that dreaming is important? Why or why not?
• Discuss at least one of your childhood dreams. Explain why you believe you can or cannot achieve this dream.

1) I don't believe it can be stated strongly enough that the freedom to play, experiment, and feel supported/loved by his parents while in his childhood led him to the deep seeded belief that he could actually make his dreams a reality. I also believe he married well. That matters an awful lot too.

2) Dreaming is important because it allows us to be more in touch with the spiritual and less cumbered by the physical. We are spirits in mortal flesh. One day our flesh will be perfected/immortal, but until then, our flesh is a mortal overlay that can drown out what our spirits already know. Dreaming is detachment from flesh in a way. Dreaming can help us "remember" what our spirits already knew from before we were born. God sent us here with gifts, blessings, talent, and testimonies, and if we dare to dream, we can put all those things beautifully into motion for good. Dreaming allows us to gravitate toward our God-given desires, abilities, and inclinations.

3) I always wanted to be a wife and a mother. I'm a wife now, which is fabulous. I'm not a mother in the traditional sense though. It is NOT what was desired, but it is nonetheless okay. I have two grown stepsons, who were adults when I married. I really don't get to do much mothering in regard to them. I do what I can. They have my love and support. I have been a young women's president twice, a primary president, primary teacher, and activity day girls leader. I get to mother and mentor girls left and right! I don't know why the good Lord sees fit for my journey to not include being a momma, but I know he sees to it that I get to exercise my God-given inclinations to mother (verb). I'm so thankful for it too. 

Around age 13 or so, I decided I wanted to be a high school French teacher. That was my desire for years and years. I no longer have title of High School French Teacher in my list of dreams or desires. Honestly, the thought makes me ill. I do not want to teach high school at all. However, what I've learned about this dream, after all these years, is that it wasn't a bad or incorrect dream. At the time I identified this dream, I didn't see it as a combination of dreams, but as a single thing. But time has made me see that combination of dreamy desirable components. My high school French teachers were mothers. They were able to be home with their children. They spoke French. They traveled. They were "wordly" (in the good sense of the word). They were articulate in two languages. I wanted to be all of that! I just saw it as one, not many. Each of those components is what I always wanted for my life, and still do. I have achieved much of this dream to the best that the circumstances within my control have allowed. 

I'm thankful that through time, Heavenly Father is allowing me (and helping me) to look back on my path with understanding and gratitude. I'm able to see the bigger picture, and it's still pretty.

I'm ready to get excited.

I feel like I've stepped into another world. I've never taken a class, for which I've paid, to learn how to do my work or earn my living. I worked for my parents' businesses as a child. I left home without looking back after high school, and worked worked worked my butt off to make it. I didn't marry until I was almost 36, and even still, I continued to work for a paycheck. After moving back to Arizona, I found myself in a delightfully odd situation of not necessarily needing or wanting to go find a job. My last job in Virginia Beach left a bad taste in my mouth thanks to a boss who was literally losing her mind. Sad situation for her, but still stunk for me. I hope she's found help. Anyway, I'm bright. I'm capable. I'm sassy. I'm experienced. And I don't want to go back to making the good money for the not-so-good boss people. 

I'm a Mary Kay consultant. Nobody tells me when or where I need to work. It's direct sales; it's not my own product. I'm contracted, so I'm limited. It's good. I love the product. I love the company. I am anxious to do more, but whilst in school, my brain & body are limited.

I just can't help but wonder about myself. Am I cut from the same cloth as my dad? He worked for Ford Motor Company until retirement, but that was never our family's main source of income. He was a small business owner/operator, and that's what yielded the big bucks. My mom owned a restaurant. I worked in both businesses. After Dad sold his business of my childhood, he went on to develop another, and I hear it's been a success. For a lot of reasons, I don't want to be like my dad. I find myself somewhat resisting the notion that we're quite possibly alike in the way we direct our professional endeavors, or at least our professional endeavor desires.  

I just read four papers and watched six or seven videos for an assignment in my B183 'Introduction to Entrepreneurship' course. My goodness. None of it was very long, but it felt like it. I'm interested in learning more about the process people endeavor who truly start with nothing, or very little, and climb, fight, or make their way up to varying tops. Obviously there are commonalities, but seeing others' journeys is fascinating to me. In a short promo video for 'The Start-Up of You,' the idea that human history began with an entrepreneurial spirit. Humans took care of themselves. They fed themselves, farmed for themselves, went to market for themselves, sewed for themselves, etc. Societal laziness and shifting responsibility to government or others isn't in our DNA. After all, the Lord did say, "By the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread..." (Moses 4:25). 

I'm anxious to get moving in this class. I'm ready to be excited.