Idea Three: The Future

I'm going to let you in on a little secret. I am a dreamer. In fact, I am a GREAT dreamer. I can come up with dreams and goals that will knock your socks off. Now I will let you in on another little secret. While I am great at coming up with dreams and goals, I am not always the best and following through and actually making plans to REACH those dreams and goals.

Phew. I'm glad that is off my chest.

There are about a million and one things that I have dreamt of doing with my life. Just in the last few years. (Okay, I may be exaggerating a BIT, but not that much.) Really, in all honesty there are so many things in life that I want to do, see, and become. It basically boils down to "I want to save the world." No really. I want to save the animals, save the homeless, save the children, save the homeless children, make sure everyone has an education, save those who need a second chance, save the victims of sex trafficking, save the.... well you get the picture. I've come up with ideas, possibilities, and plans of how to do pretty much all of it. The problem is, none of it ever STICKS. Sticks with me that is. I get an idea and run with it for awhile, but it never feels completely right. For one reason or another it is somehow influenced by someone else and what I think they want me to do, or something we could do together. When it comes down to it, it is not completely me. It isn't what I want to do with my life.

None of the above listed things are the thing that has stuck with me since I was a little girl. There is, however, one thing that has. You know what that is? Helping people by using horses. I have loved horses pretty much since the day I was born, I had my own mare before I was born, she was born in April, I was born three months later in July. I spent hours on horse back as a little tiny thing, riding around the farm while my dad was off working in the fields, in the shed, etc. When I was ready to get down I would just yell for him to come get me off. The only time I got grounded was when my older brother helped me get on Buttercup when my parents weren't around, which I was not supposed to do.

As a tiny little girl, barely able to walk, I used to toddle out amongst the herd of ponies on the farm. These ponies were semi wild, what had started out with a few dozen horses purchased my grandpa a few decades earlier had multiplied into a herd of nearly a thousand. Not only of them were kept at the same farm at the same time, but were moved from our various farms in the area. When they were at our home farm I would walk out amongst them, going under, behind, all around them, and never getting stepped on. I would play games with Buttercup, tag and hide and go seek when I wasn't riding her. This continued until my parents got divorced, my mom got remarried and we moved to Arizona. Buttercup was moved down with us, but she died the next year from consuming the deadly Oleander bush.

Losing one of my best friends at 8 years old was devastating, in so many ways. Looking back now I feel like I had this connection and gift with horses that has been buried so deep inside of me that I sometimes wonder if I will ever get it back. However, I am determined to dig it out, renew it, and grow it into something more.

(If you are still reading this you may wonder how on earth this post is labeled about the future when all I am doing is seemingly dwelling on the past. Well, your question will be answered shortly!)

With all this being said, I have been thinking about the future lately, well I think about the future a lot, but I have been thinking about the immediate future. I have been looking at equine therapy places close to me, as well as the qualifications to become an equine therapist, or at least a registered instructor, if not an actual therapist. I know I eventually want to work on my own, for myself, but I realize that is not going to happen right away, and I need something that will allow me to make a living, but still have the time and opportunities to grow and develop in the ways I want and need to for my future. My plan is to take a few classes at the local community college, for my own personal enjoyment, probably two nights a week, a photography class and a couple social dance classes. In addition to this I will volunteer one or two evenings a week at one of the equine therapy locations, work on improving my riding skills, and the skills needed to become a registered instructor, and in a year or two become a registered instructor. In addition to this it is important to me that I have the opportunity to travel. It is something that I feel passionate about, and want to be able to do.

With all of that being said and realized, I figured I need a job where I have evenings, weekends, and holidays free. Summers would be great for traveling. This made me realize that the ideal place for me to be working is at a school. UGH. (Joking, kind of.) Working at a school gives me the exact schedule that will work best for growing towards what I want to be doing. So, I am looking at clerical/secretarial jobs at the local school districts.

Wish me luck!!

*And congratulations to ANYONE who actually made it through all of that!*