Have faith in your dream I have loved family history for years and have researched my own family since I was 13. I always wanted to spend more time on it, but I never thought I would be able to make a living doing it. I have now established myself as an expert in forensic […]
Use Failure as a Tool for Correction I don’t even remember when I wanted to become a hypnotist, but I know it goes back to at least my early teens. At 18, I tried to hypnotize my younger sister using a library book. After learning hypnosis (but not having the confidence to work with others), […]
Any goal can be achieved Growing up, I worked for my Dad and his friend at a landfill. Firefighters would come and look for “treasure.” One day when I was in college and working part time, they came and said they were hiring. I wasn’t hired right away, but finished college and a stint in […]
Stay in the Batter’s Box and Keep Swinging… I always wanted to be the head or founder of a humanitarian advocacy project. In 2013, 46 million Americans had to go to food kitchens which are often flooded with donations during Thanksgiving and Christmas. There’s a food deficiency 365 days a year. It’s a problem. There […]
If you want something, you may have to create it From the time I was ten years old, I felt that my life had been saved because there was something I was meant to do in the world. This was due to three factors; (1) I was born in 1928 only because my mother’s abortionist, […]
Only You Can Make It Happen I have always craved performing. When I was a teenager, I was modeling for greeting card and dance calendars while attending a performing arts high school. Coming from parents who owned a business, it was customary to go into a more traditional profession such as a doctor or lawyer. […]
You Must Have the Desire Ever since I was a little girl, around five years old, I have loved music and singing. I wanted to be a singer and an actress, but I could never make a living doing it. When I was in high school I did drama. I eventually chose education as a […]
Don’t Give Up On Your Dream I dreamed of going to Africa until I was 53 years old. When I was 10 and growing up in Canada, I saw a National Geographic magazine which featured cheetahs in Kenya. There was a picture of a cheetah chasing a gazelle. Once I saw that picture, I fell […]
Give it your best shot and see what happens I used to work in the medical field selling operating room equipment. Now I’m a writer working on my third book. I always liked writing but I didn’t ever think I would be published. The fact that a publisher thought it was good enough to publish […]
You are never too old I wanted to be an author at age six or seven. Always an avid reader, I remember going to school being encouraged to be a good student. I loved to share what I wrote and I would always add an illustration with it. Illustrating was not my strong suit, but […]
Speaking with the people profiled on JDYD, they have several things in common, but one that particularly stands out. They didn’t give up. When I listened to them tell their stories, I thought how strong they were. Several had what most would consider physical limitations. They didn’t let it stop them. Their dream was that […]
Staying focused on the Lord Since I was ten, my lifelong dream was to be a famous writer. I had dreams of financial wealth and use it for God’s people. At 16 I was pregnant and married. In my mind, I had violated what I saw as God’s Laws. I fell into the trap of […]
If You Want To Do It, You Will Find a Way I was born and raised in South Africa. My ancestors emigrated there from South India for greater opportunities. As a young child, my maternal grandmother watched me during the day while my mom attended medical school. Education in our family was a huge focus. […]
Really try to make it work Back when I was in high school and deciding what I wanted to do, I thought about law because it interested me. At the time, only four percent of attorneys were women. I went into another helping profession – psychology – but didn’t like it and it didn’t feel […]
It takes a village to do anything… At 66-years-old I got my first book contract, and at age 7o I received the second for Don’t Roll Your Eyes: Making In-Laws into Family. I served three terms in the New Hampshire State Legislature. At 50, I became a professor. It has always been my goal to […]
Do magic with your life! There are two types of dreams: The ones that come when you are sleeping—not your choice, it just occurs to you—and the ones you create. Dreams that occur when you are sleeping are very often not something you can accomplish or do. What you create is done carefully. When I […]
Take the Leap of Faith For many years I harbored a dream—to write my non-fiction memoir of an extraordinarily difficult small window of time in my life. A time where both I and my family were challenged by fate and death. I battled and won. For years, I wanted to tell the story. I finally […]
Allow your negatives to be positives We were very poor growing up. As a child, I thought that I wanted to be a writer and business owner. But, I didn’t know any. When I was 34 years old and nine months pregnant, I had a massive heart attack. That heart attack led me to fulfill […]
I have known I wanted to be a writer since I was eight years old I will always be grateful to my third grade teacher, Mrs. Fisher, for instilling the love of writing in me at such a young age. While other kids were out riding their bikes, I was sitting in my bedroom typing […]
If You Don’t Live Your Dream, You’ve Lived Half a Life I grew up in LaHabra, California, an Hispanic neighborhood, but never truly learned to speak Spanish. It was my dream to learn the language and to love the Mexican culture. What made you decide to finally realize your lifelong dream? In the schools where […]
