I imagine it was scary! But look at you — you earned a PhD and now you’re teaching students. What an inspirational story. It also demonstrates that where our passion lies is not necessarily what comes easy to us. Great challenges can pull out the best in us, and overcoming them can really build our character.

Thanks for sharing your journey with us!

ari

Melinda

Melinda´s last blog post..Forgiveness and Making Amends

Yes, that’s part of the point I was trying to illustrate — identifying our gifts and passions are surely steps in the right direction, but it still takes courage from there to actually move forward and pursue it. The more you have time to internalize your passions, dreams and hopes, the more you hurt when they are tested and challenged in the real world. It can be taxing and draining — yet, once you see that you have missions in life, you just can’t live happily without pursuing it.

Fulfillment comes through surrendering to your passion. But surrendering is never easy.

ari

Welcome to OBV! Agreed — art is about communicating, and it takes two, doesn’t it? Some creators get so engrossed in their creations that they become isolated and defensive, but the only way their creations can reach their potential is when they are set free in the world. It can be scary, but on the other side of it are the rewards.

ari

Wow, that’s quite an inspiring story! Thanks for sharing it.

Was it scary to return to school, when your memory with it was so poor? I do hear of people who blossom later in academic careers, though — like you said, people learn in different ways, so those that didn’t do well with one-size-fits-all education of early years can still find their ways to success when they’re given more room to pursue in their own styles.

You are such a shining example of healing and growth. Thanks for hanging out at my blog.
ari

Well, I wanted to highlight that it takes a lot of courage to pursue and share our passionate creations. It’s like handing your baby to a stranger you don’t know if you can trust. But as with everything else, risks are the ones with potential for greater rewards.

ari

“The world will thank you. You will thank you.” Beautifully put!

Indeed we will and so will you.

Tom Volkar / Delightful Work´s last blog post..Do It Your Way

You know something? I love writing, I write because I have ink on my veins. And yet I feel I have not written anything if nobody has read it. To me art is always some form of communication, a creative work done by author and reader, musician and listener, painter and watcher and so on…

Miguel de Luis´s last blog post..Oliver Twist lives! (part 1)

Growing up, I did terribly in school–I barely graduated from high school (I graduated 427th out of a class of 442 (not too good!). I know now that I had Attention Deficit Disorder but when I was growing up, that was not recognized or treated.

After I entered recovery, I took several occupational tests and they told me I should go to college–that I would excel if I went! I thought their tests were wrong but I decided to go and it was there that I developed a deep passion for learning. And what surprised me so much was that I excelled at school. Of course, I had traveled such a long journey since the time when I was a child and had done poorly at school–I had gone through therapy, which helped me gain enormous insight into myself–and I also recognized that I learned differently than others did and knew how to optimize my learning abilities. I ended up graduating from college with highest honors (81st out of a class of over 5,000!). I was accepted to every graduate school I applied to. I found my passion (finally) and embraced it.

Now, I try to tell my own students to follow their heart and whatever they believe they can do–they CAN do if they believe in themselves. One of my favorite saying is, “Nothing ventured, nothing gained!). So venture away!

Another great post, Ari–

Melinda

Melinda´s last blog post..Forgiveness and Making Amends