To follow on from my “Light Bulb Moment” post last week, as it seemed to inspire a few of you, I thought I’d write a post on how to identify your dream life, including your dream career.

My Journey So Far

Finding out what you really want in life can be tricky. At least it has been for me. As I’ve written before, for 17 years what I really wanted was to be an actress – and not just any actress mind you – I wanted to be a Cate Blanchett! An Oscar award winning actress cast as the leading lady in brilliant movies (and perhaps opposite Brad Pitt and Johnny Depp!). And for a long time, I truly believed I could do this.

Somewhere along the line, around 18-19 years of age, I started to become very self-conscious. I believe this was due to starting a career as a model, which is ALL about how you look. Such a wank really! Anyway, being judged on my looks and then with acting, on my talent, started to affect my confidence a little bit more each time I got rejected. And there’s a lot of rejection in these industries! At this time, something started changing with my skin. Growing up I’d always had the most beautiful, olive skin and rarely had pimple breakouts.  My complexion was still lovely but a little fairer and I developed a skin condition called rosacea, which makes your skin very sensitive to extreme hot or cold weather conditions, alcohol, spicy food, caffeine and (the worst part of it for me) makes you flush very easily on your face and neck. Argh…really?! I couldn’t believe I’d developed this! Hereditary apparently…thanks Dad! 😉

So now I was even more self-conscious because in auditions or castings I’d be so worried about flushing that I’d end up flushing even for no reason because I was so focused on the flushing! I think I’m flushing right now for writing ‘flushing’ so many times. Ha!

Anyhoo, I’ve been working to overcome this ever since, and have made vast improvements with age. It’s still there, the rosacea and self-consciousness, but it’s much more under control and I feel a lot more confident. It’s funny how you can seem uber confident to people on the outside, but not feel it so much on the inside. There’s a fantastic book I read that my mum bought me a couple of years ago, called The Ultimate Secrets of Total Self-Confidence by Dr Robert Anthony…it’s a must read. I’ve tried lots of other things over the years, which I’ll write  a post on depending on the interest this creates (please leave a comment below if you’d like to know more on this topic).

I Do Digress

So, getting back to how you can identify your dream. Now, there’s having dreams and there’s having dreams based on talent. The two may go hand in hand or they may not…and it’s okay if they do and it’s okay if they don’t. I think a lot of people feel pressure to find out what their talent is. There’s the old adage that everyone has a talent, something I personally believe to be true, but not everyone thinks this about themselves. You might think you’re reasonably good at something, like parallel parking a car or long-distance running or winning an argument etc, but an actual ‘talent’? Doesn’t this mean to be creative? Doesn’t this mean being a talented actor, dancer, musician, artist, vocalist, writer, photographer, designer, director, producer, architect, make-up artist, art director, cinematographer, animator etc? Yes it does…if any of the above is what you’re passionate about. The key is finding out what this is, what gets you excited, what will make you want to jump out of bed and start your day with a big grin on your face (maybe not every day, let’s be realistic, but most days :-)). And this could be something you’re talented at, or something you simply really really enjoy doing, or both! And THAT is what’s important – finding something you really enjoy doing and following your heart.

How To Find Out What’s Enjoyable To You…What You Can See Yourself Doing Every Day

I did a fabulous exercise last year with coach, Dr Kisane, which was all about visualising the life that is perfect for me.  At the time I started this, I was feeling like I had no purpose or direction anymore…I was lost. Through doing this very detailed exercise that included things such as where I’d be living in my perfect life, details about the partner of my dreams, my career path etc, it enabled me to think outside the square and I made a massive shift in my thinking. I realised that instead of waiting for people to recognise my talent through getting ‘a break’, I could put myself out there in a different medium showing my talents and strengths and interests in a public forum, and draw people to me whilst at the same time affecting people in a positive way! This set me off on a whole new path that became clearer through the exercises I had to work through, and was the inspiration behind the theme of my blog! And the best thing is…I really enjoy working on my blog! 🙂

It’s been such a massive achievement and breakthrough for me! For the first time in a while, I’m really excited about my future! I know I will continue to grow and my dreams will change from time to time (and I am a Gemini!), but I’m happy with that. So long as I stay true to myself and follow my dreams and my heart.

I hope you do too xx