Hello,
You don’t have to defend your dreams for it to matter. It just has to matter to you.
There are things I want that are relationship related and to me, they matter just as much as my professional desires. The first step in going for our dreams is actually admitting to ourselves what they are. Write them down. You don’t have to share it with anyone just yet, but be honest with yourself first.
You have to be honest with what you want and what it might take to get there. This is not to deter you away from it, but it will bring clarity. Ask yourself, “Am I willing to sacrifice _______ to make this happen?”, “Am I okay if it takes longer, a lot longer?”
When you are able to get clear on what you will sacrifice and what you won’t sacrifice, you are then able to make it align to your values.
Last year, I had a dream of wanting to sell at least 1,000 copies of my book. As a first time no-name author with a small press, this would be a dream come true. I was willing to do what it took by putting myself out there to promote, contacting people who were certainly out of my league, and stretching my comfort zone. And, there were things I chose not to do for the sake of protecting my mental health and overall wellbeing. I wanted the experience to be joyful, not forceful.
Be honest with how you want the journey to feel along the way because you will spend more time in the journey than at the destination.
So while I may have been able to sell more books if I had a TikToc account- suggested by many- I know myself to know that I can only handle one social media outlet. I listened to my gut and promoted my book in ways that were authentic to me and my personality. I sold more than double my goal amount.
You can stretch yourself while maintaining who you are. You don’t have to be someone you are not.
So, what is it that you want?
Spend some time this week dreaming. Let your mind wander. Maybe your next step is writing them down and getting honest with yourself, or maybe you need clarity on what you are willing to do for it. Or, maybe you have been feeling chaotic and out of control because you have been listening to everyone else but yourself- you need a reset in order to redirect the path.
Or maybe, you need to give yourself the space to dream, again. New dreams are possible.
rooting for you and your dreams,
kyunghee
updates on this newsletter
I am making all newsletters free. If you are a paid subscriber, I can’t thank you enough for supporting my work financially. It means so much. With that being said, if you wish to switch from paid to free, that is okay! Those who are paid members are simply giving because they wish to pledge their support financially.
For me, it has felt like I am trying to “sell” this newsletter rather than writing to organically build a readership for those who find it worthwhile. I am making this change because when I started this newsletter, I wanted to build a readership, not customers.
I wanted to write for late bloomers, like myself. Late to life, late to work, late to love- that life has not quite turned out the way we had hoped, but how do we live with the lives we actually have? I write weeklyish notes on life, love, and work with questions/learnings I am finding along the way.
Thank you for reading and being here!
This is so good and timely for me. When I decided to share my writing online, I also felt there were things I *had* to do. While I did need to step out of my comfort zone, I didn’t have to do things that felt inauthentic for me (like having more than one social media account or monetizing my blog). Congrats on exceeding your goal! 2,000 is a lot of people!
That was awesome ! Thank you for your clarity and specificity, especially getting clear on deal breakers for a dream, and finding solutions that are authentic & worth doing.