It's a while since the last post but a lot has happened. Both emotionally and professionally it has been a period of great change. On Monday the Running With Diane story takes its latest twist as I begin a degree course at university.
At my age? Why not. It's a dream, but it's not a pipe dream. It's very real, and it gets very, very real on Monday..
There’s a difference between day-dreaming and dreaming big.
Day-dreamers wake up too late to grab their chance as the
opportunity passed them by without them noticing.
Dreamers who dream big, on the other hand, create the
opportunity in order to chase their dreams. They don’t allow anyone to tell them
they can’t, that the dream is out of reach. If it is not to be, then I’ll make
sure I am the one who finds out. I’ll not rely on someone else’s doubts about
my ability.
At my age, becoming a full-time student at university is
unorthodox, I admit. But age is no barrier to having a dream, nor should it
ever be. And age should never stop you chasing your dream.
To tinker with one of George Bernard Shaw's more famous quotes, ‘We don’t stop
dreaming because we grow old, we grow old because we stop dreaming’.
So the secret is, ‘Never stop dreaming’. Because then we’ll
never grow old. Of course our bodies will weaken and our times over 100 metres
might start to look less impressive, but between the ears we will never grow old.
And between the ears is our most important bit.
I’m in a familiar place this weekend, standing at the foot
of a mountain and daring to look up. I can’t see the top, it’s up in the clouds
somewhere. But I can see the first ledge I need to get to. It’s called Semester
1.
From there, I’ll get a better view of the second ledge (no
prizes for guessing what that’s called). If I successfully reach every
ledge it means I will at some point reach the summit. What a day that
promises to be in three years’ time if I stick to my one-ledge-at-a-time
approach.
The latest challenge is probably the toughest yet by some
margin. If I reach the top, I will have a BSc (Hons) degree in Psychology
& Counselling from the University of Salford.
To experience university life has been a long-held dream of
mine, ever since I squandered the opportunity more than four decades ago. I’ve
become a full-time student at a time in life many are contemplating a more relaxing
future.
But one of my favourite tenets is, ‘Never be the person they expect you to be’.
Make sure you take control of what happens next in your life. Don’t hand the
job to someone else.
The latest challenge ticks quite a few of my ‘mantra’
chart-toppers…
Never lose the urge to challenge yourself
Never put a ceiling on what you can achieve, you’re capable of far more
than you could ever imagine
Aim further than you can reach
You’re never too old, too young, too fat, too thin
Look up and not down, ahead and not behind
This new chapter is exciting and daunting in equal measure,
which usually means it’s a proper test of mettle. The first steps of the
climb take place on Monday. Let’s see how high we reach…
