My Reality Check Bounced! - Jason Ryan Dorsey [87]
In September, two full months behind schedule, I finally opened Starwood Montessori School. I had hoped a hundred kids ages two to nine would enroll. Miraculously, almost two hundred students enrolled by the end of the first year. In our second year, we reached our max capacity of three hundred students. Now we are one of the largest schools in our area—and I’m breaking ground on another school next year!
It may sound crazy, but after all the ups, downs, and unknowns I went through to live my dream, I’d definitely do it all over again the same way. The stress, uncertainty, upset parents, and leaps of faith only make me appreciate more when my students run up to me with a big hug and say “Good morning, Ms Anita!”
I know now that I’m living my purpose. That’s a wonderful feeling.
By taking the risk to follow her heart and by betting everything she had on that path, Anita found a zest for life that many people only dream about. Her courage in following her authentic path is rewarded every morning when her students show up with smiles, hugs, and handwritten thank-you notes.
NOW IT’S YOUR TIME
You may be thinking your situation is different from Anita’s or Mysha’s. Maybe you are younger or older. Maybe your biggest dream is not that big or it’s so big you’re afraid to start. These are all the more reasons to begin proving to yourself what you are made of right now. With each baby step and giant leap you take toward feeling most alive, you move farther down a path leading to the inspiration, reward, and purpose you desire.
To remind you where you’re headed, take a moment to write your four snapshots in the following lines. Feel free to revise them from the ones you wrote at the beginning of the book. Next to each snapshot write one step—tiny or huge—that you are willing to commit to taking this week. With each step you take, you’ll have a better idea of where to go to feel more alive.
Career snapshot:______________________________
• Sample action: Call someone who has your dream job and take her to lunch. Find out what it’s really like to do what she does—and if she can help you to do the same.
• Your action:______________________________
Family snapshot:______________________________
• Sample action: Organize a family reunion.
• Your action:______________________________
Personal snapshot:______________________________
• Sample action: Join a health and wellness group such as yoga, meditation, dance, or spin classes.
• Your action:______________________________
Purpose snapshot:______________________________
• Sample action: Write your purpose snapshot on your bathroom mirror.
• Your action:______________________________
SHARE YOUR KNOWLEDGE, GRASSHOPPER
As all the stories in this book reveal, you have so many exciting options about what to do with the rest of your life. Along with focusing on your wide-open future, it’s important to remember the choices that have moved you to where you are now. I’m positive that if you reflect on your biggest watershed moments—such as deciding whether to continue your education, whether to get a new job, whether to ask your best friend to marry you—there were other people involved in helping you make the right decision. Without these advisers’ help, guidance, and belief, you might not be where you are now. These important people may have been family, friends, teachers, employers, your tag team, or a mentor. The best way you can thank them is to share what you’ve learned with other people not as far along their path as you are. You do this by becoming a mentor yourself.
You may think that you don’t know enough to mentor someone else, but you absolutely do! By making it this far in life, you’ve picked up lots of knowledge, ideas, and experiences the hard way that other people could benefit from learning. Becoming a mentor doesn’t mean you’re expected to have all the answers to every problem, or write someone into your will—all it means is that