Who’s Dream Are You Chasing?

One September in North Carolina, not long ago, I sat across a picnic table from “J.J.”

I remember he leaned towards me, looked me in the eyes, and said “Erin, there’s literally NOTHING I want more in this world than to help people by becoming a medical doctor.”

I had just met the fellow. And his conviction was INTENSE.

So that night I committed to personally helping him overcome his debilitating fear (and avoidance) of re-taking his medical boards—which he’d previously failed.

Exactly 8 days later, when we met in person again, J.J. told me all about his struggles to pass the exams.

He insisted he just didn’t THINK the way the exams (and western medicine) require you to think, and told me about his constant struggle to change his thinking process while studying harder than he ever had in his life.

I sat quietly, and listened.

Then I asked:

“What if you could truly help people WITHOUT being a doctor? Without needing more school and studying and hundreds of thousands in student debt and more effort to change how you naturally think and learn?”

J.J’s eyes exploded open, stayed open, and his jaw dropped.

“THAT WOULD BE AMAZING…”

I was shocked. He’d never once considered an alternative to “his dream” of being a doctor.

Why?

I found out the answer: He was raised in India.

He shared that in India, you’re either

1. a software person,
2. an engineer,
3. medical doctor, or
4. you’re NOTHING.

From a young age, his mother had pushed him to be a medical doctor.

Nothing else was an option.

So that became “his dream.”

But when examined, just for a moment, J.J. realized his LIFE LONG DREAM that he’d previously “wanted more
than anything in the world”…

…was nothing more than his MOTHER’S hope for him.

NOT his actual dream.

J.J. left our meeting that day looking more hopeful and more alive than I’d ever seen him MUCH more so than when
he’d tell me about his previous life-long dream to become a doctor.

A whole new world of possibility had opened up before his eyes.

And all he did is consciously examine, just for a few moments, what he’d genuinely THOUGHT he’d wanted for so many years.

When was the last time you took a moment to quietly sit with and “feel into” your dreams your desires what you SAY you want your hobbies where you’re headed or your vision of success?

Is your vision of success a true HELL YES?

(Or is it someone else’s? Perhaps one left over from the past?)

Might you be running yourself ragged and telling yourself all’s perfect all while running the WRONG RACE?

I invite you to take a look today and see what you find.