Follow Your Dreams

Many years ago, my sister was 25 years old and working as a manager at a cookie retail store. She was unhappy and one day, she woke up and decided to follow her dreams. She had always loved the movie industry and knew that her soul really wanted to work around television or movies. On that fateful day, a gut feeling took over and she decided to drive over to 20th Century Fox and see where the day took her. When she pulled up to the guard at the security gate, she waved and something surprising happened, he opened the gate for her and waved her through. It was as if divine guidance had intervened, but the guard did not stop her or ask her a single question, he just waved her on through. Once on the lot, she decided to head to the trailers and the set of her favorite television show at the time, Moonlighting. Once there, she asked around if anyone had an internship available and they pointed her to the casting trailer. It was as if, step by step, everything was synchronistic and meant to be. Once she was in the casting trailer, she was informed that an internship had just opened up and it was hers if she wanted it. That was it, a gut instinct, a dream and the bravery to follow it through. She gave her notice at the cookie store and started the internship the following week. As it turns out, casting was a perfect fit for her. She had always remembered the names of actors in movies, plays and television, almost to a fault. All of her skills came together and she found one of her callings in life. The only catch, she had to work with no paycheck for three months until she was hired on as the casting assistant. Any dream worth pursuing is worth some sacrifice. She had to scrape, borrow and live on soup for three months, but the payoff was worth more than three months with no salary. She realized on the first day at the job, that something had guided her there, even though she did not believe in divine guidance at the time. Everything in her life had led to that moment. Because she drove to 20th Century Fox that one morning, her entire life changed and went in an entirely different direction. If she had let messages of fear stop her at any time that day, she would not have ended up with the Casting and Producing career, she has today. Those fearful messages that could have stopped her or anyone..."what are you crazy, you will never get on the lot," or "work for free for three months, forget it, I'll stay at the cookie place." Luckily, she ignored the fear based voice and proceeded to work her way up to Casting Associate, then Casting Director and now Producer for films. The bottom line and titles aside, she absolutely loves what she does. She followed her dreams and although the occasional sacrifice comes with the job, she'd do it all again if you asked her. Listen to your gut, ignore those fearful messages whenever possible and do not hesitate to follow your dreams. The universe will conspire to help you achieve your dreams if you believe in yourself first. "All your dreams can come true if you have the courage to pursue them"...(Walt Disney).