Welcome back to season 2 of Dreams Money Can't Buy - the comeback season.

This first episode explores how difficult it is to follow your dreams, I started this podcast with somewhat of a naive outlook where following your dreams just seemed like the easiest thing to do but with time life teaches you some lessons.

This year I have learnt how difficult it is to follow your dreams, to commit to those things and no matter the circumstances keep that dream. To follow your dreams it's more than just doing what you love, it's about being courages in the face of failure, rejection, it's about being patient in times where nothing is actively or physically changing, it's about faith keeping and seeing that vision that dream even when you can’t see it, its about making that dream a priority and being able to show up even when motivation and inspiration is lacking. At the start of the year I would have thought following your dreams should be the easiest thing you can do for yourself because its your dream but that’s what makes it the most difficult and I am learning that my dream is a part of me it speaks to who I am as a person and I can’t fail at being myself its not possible.

I have learnt the consequences of not following your dreams but also the challenges that come with following your dreams and the questions I had to ask myself: Am I okay not to see this dream through? Have I done all I can to make this dream come through? Am I comfortable with the results and the outcome, is this the best that I can do, did I leave no stone unturned? You usually find that you are more than capable of rising again and rising above all doubt, disbelief and fear once you get uncomfortable with being comfortable.

This episodes serves as a reflection opportunity for me.. I simply share some of my thoughts and emotions and also lessons that I am currently learning and some of the key questions I am currently asking myself on my journey the main ones I explore in this episode is - what do I gain from anticipating the worst? and what am I teaching myself from anticipating the worst?

I explore where this thinking process comes from and what it is linked to - discovering that I taught myself from a very young age to 'expect the worst' and have now since carried it into my adulthood - I challenge this thinking process by first understanding why I find comfort is anticipating the worst and the simple and short answer is to avoid the daunting feelings of disappointment or betrayal or the feelings of being blindsided. Although all natural and normal feelings, anticipating the worst only encourages me to live life in fear which steers me further away from faith and it only encourages me to see the worst not only in myself but in other people and opportunities. While we will and have faced disappointment, betrayal, loss or whatever else it may be - we shouldn't let that become a familiar feeling - or be the defining part of our identities, there is a better story that you should be and can be telling about yourself and while sometimes life can be overwhelming with all the grief, pain and hurt or disappointment don't get so used to that feeling that you can't see your very own blessings in front of you, don't get so comfortable in those feelings that it does become the defining part of your identity.

We all deserve to feel excited about ourselves and our lives, we all deserve to be celebrated regardless of the outcome, regardless of the results, from a young age we are taught to only celebrate ourselves once we achieve something - but what happens when you go through a season in your life where things are simply being planted and a season of stillness? You still deserve to be celebrated and our worth and value isn't rooted in the results we get. I am learning to always take a moment and just congratulate and celebrate myself and to also acknowledge all the growth that is happening behind the scenes - and I am so grateful to have people around me who help me see the best in myself especially on the days where it is more difficult.

I think failure and success both have a lot to teach us, but when we do fail and we tried that’s not an invitation to stop trying, failure is an invitation to try again but this time a different way, a new approach, a new mindset, a different outlook, failure can redirect us and you just have to believe in yourself and have confidence in your dreams regardless of the outcome, don’t fixate on results you’ll be misled into believing that either you're not good enough or you’ll get comfortable in believing you’ve achieved all you can, the journey and growth doesn’t stop at failure but it shouldn’t also stop at success. I think sometimes it is easy to limit your growth by focusing on results, we all want certain outcomes and we all want results that reflect our efforts, but if you only value the results you’ll only ever go as far as those results let you.

I don’t think we give ourselves enough credit for even trying, its nice to see results, its nice to see the work put in becoming something tangible and something to show for but sometimes the results of your efforts will just be growth, strength, something less tangible and its just reminding yourself that winning and success doesn’t always mean having something physical to show for, growing alone in mentality and character is enough.

The greatest asset you can have is who you are, when you meet people, when you face challenges, when life hits you with countless obstacles you can have all the resources in the world but if you don’t know who you are those things become meaningless and useless, that’s not to say you shouldn’t have money, you shouldn’t have assets and all these other resources but gaining all those things and not knowing who you are or losing yourself in the process you’ll always feel like something is missing, gaining material goods won’t make up for the internal voids or for the things you lack in character. Don’t limit or define your growth or who you are by the things you have or alternatively by the things you don’t have, you are more than that, situations, jobs, money, opportunities always change and they are not a solid foundation to establish your identity on.

My value, your value isn’t defined by someone else or how someone else treats you, or whether you succeed or fail. Don’t let external things define you internally, and if you are faced with a moment of failure don’t use that as an excuse to tear yourself down, or to point out every mistake and flaw you see in yourself, we all have things we can and need to work on but justifying failure with because you’re not good enough will only discourage you from trying again, you thought you were good enough to begin with so don’t revert back to thinking you’re not good enough just simply because you failed at something or more precisely you didn't get the results you anticipated.

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Email: gabrielegvozdaite@dmcb.uk