A successful life is one that is lived through understanding and pursuing one’s own path, not chasing after the dreams of others. – Chin-Ning Chu

I’ve had a busy couple of weeks, and something has had to give, and it’s been blog posts.  I was going to let this one slide too, but, it really has so much to do with WHY I am busy that I felt compelled to write a brief post about it.

Right now, we are at the HEIGHT of the college selection process in my family.  We have narrowed down the choice of schools from millions to thousands to hundreds to a select few (or not so few in my daughter’s case).  Both my kids have schools they LOVED and schools they hated, as do I, and guess what, or lists have NOTHING in common accept for being diametrically opposite of one another.   This college process has been a long hard journey for all of us, for the kids, the reasons are obvious, but mine have to do with making sure the kids follow their dreams and NOT mine.  I have schools I’d love for them to attend, and career choices I think would be perfect for them, but those are my dreams for them, and not theirs.  As a parent, it’s so hard to find the balance between offering ideas and suggestions and pushing your own agenda on to your children.  I think it’s just as hard for people to say no to the ideas of others and have the courage to pursue their own goals and dreams.

So when it’s time to make a choice, take a moment and think about the options.  Which one, if any, is the one you really want.  Focus on that and follow your own path instead of the one the others are trying to blaze for you.