Alana Smith
Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined.
– Henry David Thoreau
I received this quote, written on a wood door hanger, as a gift when I graduated from nursing school. It hung in my bedroom, mostly as free wall art while I navigated my next steps in life—a real job.
Working the night shift as a nurse and barely seeing my husband wasn’t exactly “living the life I had imagined,” but it was my next step, to get where I was going.
And I imagine this quote will be written in graduation cards all over the country in the next few weeks. It is so fitting, for someone who is embarking on life, filled with excitement and with more years in front of them, than behind.
But what if you are 28 and don’t know where you are going? Something has derailed you, and your grand plans.
Or what if you are 34, and your days are filled with sippy cups and diapers, and although this is what you wanted all your life, it’s just not quite what you had imagined?
Or you are 45, with teenagers and slamming doors. Feeling like you just can’t do anything right by them, and your own
dreams are something you don’t even
recognize anymore?
Or you were laid off after years of service. Or you have been sick and unable to do much else.
Or maybe you have a steady income, but so many people depend on you that you couldn’t chase your real dreams even if you wanted to.
Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. It doesn’t say to “make your dreams come true.” It just says to go—in that direction.
Take the next step. Maybe you’ve always wanted to paint, or learn piano. Maybe you’ve wanted to take night classes and finish your degree. Maybe you’ve wanted to foster a child, or write a book. Maybe you’ve wanted to apply for that manager position.
Go confidently in that direction.
And then you will live the life you have imagined. One step at a time, y’all.
Alana is a nurse anesthetist, writer and boy mom (ages 7 and 2), who lives in north Shelby County with her husband, kids and Boxer, Sam. When she’s not writing or chasing little humans, she can usually be found in the aisles of Target. She shares her writings at Holy Moly Motherhood (on Facebook and Instagram), where she takes on all things motherhood and marriage.
