Your Dreams Should Scare You A Little

This week, I had a meeting with one of my students' mother. She is also a single mom, and a bit younger than I am. At one point in the meeting she said, "You're a single mother and you're so successful? You're such an inspiration!"

Then our conversation shifted a bit. We started talking about goals and dreams. She wants to go to college, earn her college degree, and start her career. But, she's scared because she's not sure if she will be able to successfully do it while having a daughter to take care of.

I encouraged her anyway. (After all, I'm blessed to be a blessing.) I told her that it might be a bit scary, but her dreams should be a little scary. If they're not a little scary, then they're too easy to accomplish.

I was scared when I decided to become a school leader. There were times when I thought that maybe I wasn't good enough to excel at this job. But I pushed pass those feelings of fear and doubt. I encouraged myself to keep going whenever necessary, and I grabbed on to my dreams. It wasn't easy. It still isn't easy.

But it's worth it.

Everyday I get to come to work and fulfill my purpose. Everyday I get to contribute to doing something so big and meaningful and personal to me -- closing the achievement gap.

It's a glorious feeling.

For a while I've been thinking about starting a weekly parenting group for the single mothers of my students, and having that conversation really gave me the push that I needed to get the ball rolling on this project.

I'm excited.

There's a need and I'm in a position to fill it, and that's exciting. But, I'm a little scared. Like I said to the single mother during our meeting, your dreams should scare you a little bit. That's a clear sign that it's a big dream and you'll have to work hard to achieve it. But that's okay -- don't be afraid of a little work.

So here's to dreaming big and working hard and pushing pass fear to accomplish our goals. All of them.