What do you want to BE when you grow up?

Remember as children we used to say 'What do you want to be when you grow up?', and there was no wrong answer...

Astronaut!

Brain surgeon!

Farmer!

Housewife!

(and in the case of my niece, Laura, 'a penguin'!)

No one would dream of saying to that small child 'no, I'm sorry... that's not realistic, have another go'

What happened?

So at what age were we forced to reel in our dreams?  When did we start feeling the need to sterilise our answer into something 'acceptable' like "I'm going to study law"  (nothing wrong with studying law, of course... IF that's your passion).

Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that I could have become an astronaut as I suspect I'd have really struggled with the science, but I wish I'd made a conscious decision to choose something else that I was passionate about.

Like most of us, I was steadfastly guided towards 'a good education' and 'a steady job'.

I think this is part of the reason why so many of us approach midlife still not knowing what we want to be when we grow up.

What do you want to BE?

Notice too, the question is 'What do you want to BE'  not 'What do you want to DO'.

What do you want to BE... What will your purpose in life be? How will you feel? What will your contribution be to your corner of our planet? How will you help people? How will you nurture your family? How will you love?

Versus:

What do you want to DO ... How will you pay your bills?

At some point, and I'm not sure when, the question changed and we had to pick from a narrow list of acceptable answers.

Well... I'm asking you now... What do you want to BE?

Just dare to look at your genuine answer...

• I want to be a famous TEDtalker
• I want to be a multimillionaire entrepreneur
• I want to be a bestselling author
• I want to be a watercolour artist living in the Shetland Isles
• I want to be a world famous actress
• I want to be an organic smallholder raising alpacas

Whatever your buried desire is, let it out and lets at least acknowledge it.

Only then can you decide on one of the following 3 actions:

1. Now I've looked at this idea more closely I've realised it's a historic passion - it's not who I want to be now and I'm happy to leave it behind - at least I know now.
2. OH MY GOD ... This is EXACTLY what I want to be ... I'm going to sell my house, car, husband and children and move to a kibbutz to breed badgers.
3. OK, so my childhood fantasy is a little out there, but it still makes my heart race.  The thought of that life is so exciting and with a little tweaking here and there I truly believe I could make it work.  It would mean some big changes in my life but I really feel like this is my time to go for it.

I dare you to really, honestly close your eyes now and picture your dream life.

It's yours for the taking.

Don't forget to download your goal setting workbook if you haven't already.

Suggested Listening

#021 - It's Not Too Late... It's the BEST Time

#051 - From Dreamer To Dream Doula with Roz Clark

#050 - Capturing The Dazzling Truth Of Who You Are With Tamzin Merivale