Living the Dream

I had a dream.

As a child, there are two things that i have always loved.  Writing and dancing. Through the years,  it has taken a backseat and would only show up once in a while but never permanently.  The past years have made me realize that life is to short to procrastinate.

On Writing...

I started writing at a very young age.  When i was 10 years old, I'd write in my diary almost every night.  Stories were recorded and locked safely with this little key hidden in a secret drawer in my room.  I remember writing my own pocketbooks back in high school.  I was able to finish writing three [note]books from cover to cover and had my cousin edit them for me.  I wanted to take up journalism as a college degree but never really pushed through for various reasons.  In 2006, i started writing in my personal multiply site about my journey as a mom. In 2011, i decided to write again and this time in a public blog. This is where i am now. Sharing my thoughts and experiences on this blog. Somehow living my writing dream.

On Dancing...


Ever since i was little, i had a passion for dancing. I love to dance. I have enrolled in various dance schools - from ballet to street dancing.  Though my skills are far from exceptional,  dancing has always made me feel happy.  I've dreamed of becoming a ballet dancer ever since i was a child. My mom enrolled me in a summer program when i was about 5 years old and I just fell in love with it.  However, since my mom was concerned that continuous ballet would ruin my feet, that dream had to be set aside. After graduating from college, i wanted to enroll in ballet school once again. Enrolling in ballet meant not being able to work at all since the schedule was very rigid. I felt that it was not the most responsible thing to do at that time so i decided to join the corporate bandwagon instead.

15 years and two kids later, i wondered if i will be able to pursue my love for dancing. Then i thought, if i don't do anything now, i may never really be able to do it anymore. I am very well in my 30s and some people have asked me 'Why now?'...well, i thought to myself 'If not now, then when?' Today is the youngest i will ever be.

I had a dream. And after over 30 years, i am now on my way to living the dream. In a few hours, i will be putting on my pink ballet shoes and dancing to my heart's content. Life is too short to waste another day just dreaming. It's time to step up and make your dreams come true. I just did.

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Blog Inspired: Writing Your Life Purpose

One Saturday in April, i found myself at the 3rd floor of Fully Booked in BGC with other women who are also passionate about writing. When i first heard about the Blog Inspired event from Martine, I became very curious. I wasn't exactly sure what to expect from the talk but I was excited.
There was a good mix of fun activities, talks from different blog experts, and Q&A. One of my favorite part was when Jamie of Optimommy talked about writing your life purpose. Life often brings us a lot of surprises.  But when you have a clear vision of where to go, then it's easier to get to your goal. Here are some tips on writing your life purpose (reference: Arnold M. Patent, the author of You Can Have It All).

(1) List two of your uniqe qualities or talents (example: writing, dancing)
(2) List two ways you enjoy expressing those qualities when interacting with others. Basically, you need to think of two action words (example: encourage, inspire)
(3) What does your perfect world look like? How is everyone interacting with everyone else? (example: a world where there is sincere love of the Lord and everyone enjoys peace and contentment.)
(4) Combine items 1 to 3 to form a statement:

Life Purpose: I will use my passion for item 1 and item 1 to item 2 and item 2 and item 2 others to create item 3.

So for my examples above, it will look something like this:

Life Purpose: I will use my passion for writing and dancing to encourage and inspire others to create a world where there is sincere love of the Lord and everyone enjoys peace and contentment.

Once you've identified your life purpose, you can now create your blog purpose. More often that not, it is a subset of your life purpose.  Think of why you want to write in the first place. Once you've set your goal, then it will be easier for you to filter out posts that are not aligned with your blog's objective. All your posts should be anchored to the unified voice that you have set for your blog.

I thought about my own blog. I write because I want to show people that God still sends us rainbows after the storm. Our dreams may have been shattered when we lost our first born, but God restored and gave us new hope. He blessed us with two beautiful children and I couldn't ask for more. I want our lives to be an encouragement to parents (and parents-to-be).  I want to let them know that life may not always be perfect but God is good. With Him there is hope.  We can always smile again.

Ready to create your life/blog purpose? Do share them with us!

Candy, me, Martine

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