What do you do when you want to change your life but the obstacles seem daunting? One of our readers lives near Boston and feels totally stuck there, especially during the long winters. She dreams of moving some place warm but keeps coming up against three stumbling blocks:
- her husband loves Boston, the cold and his work
- she takes care of her two adorable grandchildren one day a week
- she’s worried about leaving behind Boston’s excellent medical facilities
She can’t decide whether these are serious roadblocks to her dream of living somewhere warm or simply excuses for staying stuck. Her concerns may seem very specific to her situation but just about any life question can be tackled using the 5-step D.R.E.A.M. guide that we discuss in Changing Your Course.
To get unstuck, the first step is always to Decide whether or not your dream is important enough to warrant spending time examining your options. If so, Step 2 will help you do that Research, part of which has to do with exploring the logistics. In the case of our reader, perhaps she could start off by spending a week or two in Florida and add more time the next year. For that week or two, alternate childcare arrangements could be made for her grandchildren. Part of the necessary research also means looking at the relationships involved. If our reader is really miserable, she needs to share those feelings with her family so that together they can come up with solutions. Maybe she can go south with a friend or perhaps her husband can come for some of the time.
As always, there are choices that have to be made. Flexibility is the key. If your goals are important enough, you can find ways to achieve them even if you have to make adjustments to fit the realities of your family, income, location, etc. You have to be prepared to modify and adapt your goals but don’t let this stop you. Get unstuck and get some sun!