Feel Brave and Follow Your Big Dreams

As I ponder my upcoming interview this afternoon, I have been left to figure out what my answer will be when the question comes, "So tell me Kris, why did you decide to take a year off of work?" The problem that I am having is not only coming up with one reason but a short winded one that won't lead me down a path of oversharing. For the sake of time and professionalism I must keep it short.  As a matter of my talkative nature, this is extremely hard for me to do.  Coinciding with today's event of an interview is yesterday's six year anniversary of my Dad's death.  My Dad was my hero and I reflected on a memory of him in a Facebook post about a lesson that he showed to me as a kid.  It was about being the first to say "I'm sorry" after an argument.  It was one of the life lesson's your father teaches you by his actions and isn't recognized or ever thought about until you find yourself in the distant future in a similar situation.  My parenting and my ease with which I say I'm sorry to people, especially my kids, was imprinted on me by my Dad as a kid.  I use those two most powerful words often and without much thought as I parent and discipline these kids of mine.  With both of these events on my mind it led me to a better understanding for that eventual question this afternoon.  I have always had the answer for why "I" took a year off to travel.  Candidly, I had a dream of wanting to travel the world when I was young. After over twenty years in the work force without a break I was ready to go for it.  Along the way I have found other reasons for having done this Mid-Life Retirement.  I have always said that I did it for my family. True, we had lots of quality time this year, but quality time with my family by every traditional standard has never lacked.  Another truth, all three of them would have been totally cool with staying put and living our former life.  (Erica has had much better work life balance than I have and I took this year to learn how to follow her example.) The kids really didn't know how or what to resist when we were planning during all the previous years before leaving.  We just kept feeding them excitement with our tales of life on the road.  They didn't really learn what they signed up for until the newness or "vacation mode" wore off at about three weeks. They eventually figured out how to navigate it as we all learned together.  The kids, to this day if asked if they enjoyed the year or if they would do it again give an "eh" to the former and an immediate "no!" to the latter.  My new truth that I realized today is this. I didn't take my family on this journey to give them a gift they all could have easily done without, as I have told countless times.  Selfishly, it was to have them share in my dream.  They were so kind to honor me with their support and companionship. What I have learned along the way is when you have big dreams you need to prepare for it to help you feel more brave to take the last step.  This includes gaining buy-in and support from those who will be affected, like your spouse and children. This was an easy one for me, Erica loves travel and the kids...they adapt so much better than adults.  When you have prepared to live your dream and the only barrier to achieving it is fear, feeling brave enough to take action is the last wall to climb.  I have prepared for retiring young so that I could travel the world for my entire life and that dream wasn't able to be realized exactly as I had envisioned.  Since I knew that I was wanting to come back into the workforce, fear of leaving my career paralyzed me for months leading up to my brave feeling when I accepted that I was gonna go for it. That wall seemed to grow bigger every day. We had been planning forever, there was no excuse, yet it wasn't until two days before I put in my three month resignation notice that I felt confidence in my decision. I felt brave.  It felt so good...free at last, not from work but from fear. I rely often on the lessons my Dad showed to me as a kid.  Maybe one day, probably in the distant future, when my kids are faced with a choice between caving to their fear and realizing their dreams I hope that they are going to remember what their Dad did to prepare for this year and how happy it made me once the dream took flight. I hope they will find it easier to feel brave in those tough moments and then go for their big dream everytime.  Peace and Love