Achieve Your Dreams.

I never had the chance to achieve as much as I would have liked to at school, and I never got the opportunity to finish my studies as a young adult because there was a lot of trauma and bullying in my life which had a huge impact on my self-esteem and confidence.

As an adult I went on to study further, though I passed my courses, I was unable to take my studies further until now, and I made a mistake.

I was studying topics that I wasn't passionate about, or interested in.

It started to get to me until I thought about where I wanted to be, and what I wanted from my life. I took a study break, and during that time I took a chance to work on what I was truly passionate about. Here is my list:

• Writing fiction, true life, and poetry.
• Childcare and child protection.
• Mental health.
• Psychology.
• Music.
• Singing.

I reordered this list, discarding those that were merely hobbies from those that I honestly and passionately wanted to study. Here is my second list written in order:

• Writing fiction, true life, and poetry.
• Singing and music.
• Childcare and child protection.
• Mental health.
• Psychology.

I put the list away for a week then I went back to it and revisited my thoughts to see if my priorities and passions were still the same.

I noticed that my biggest passions were writing fiction, true life, and poetry, including singing and music always remained at the top of the list.

I asked myself how often I do these things, and do I have the potential to turn them into long-term goals.

The answer was, I do them all of the time, and yes I can turn these into long-term goals.

The problem; I gave up before I even started trying.

The trigger; I kept telling myself 'I will fail.'

That statement put obstacles in the way of my learning.

When you tell yourself that you will fail before trying, then you set yourself up to fail.

I didn't want that, especially when I knew that there was so much potential in myself, so I took up studying again, starting by visiting a professional singing tutor Fran Montignani Rees

From the moment I walked into Fran's studio, I knew that I had done the right thing. Fran is a very honest and amazing tutor who encourages me and always tells me where there is room for improvement. She sees potential, as a singer in me, and she has recognized I can sing well.

I can't give my singing the stable routine that I want at the moment, so my lessons are not as routine as I'd like them to be, but Fran sets lessons I can do at home which is useful to me.

I knew from the early days of my young life that I could sing, and I started at two years old by singing on the potty, which everyone who heard me loved.

When I first walked into Fran's office, I did not realize that I could still sing until she pointed it out to me, and now I'm working hard on my lessons whenever I get the time because she wants my singing to be heard by the world!

I could tell myself that I will fail because my lessons can be difficult to fit into my life, but I won't because if I do, I will never know where my future as a singer might lead.

I read and write a lot too, which is also something I have done from a young age, and I have authored several short stories which you can see here.

You'll see that I don't stick with one Niche, and I write stories for all tastes and ages.

I always wanted to write books of different kinds and for different ages. I wrote stories at school, but I only started taking this more seriously over the last few years because again, I kept telling myself that I, will fail.

Of course, I still study my lowest priorities on my list, but on a different level which means now, I am studying and working on those dreams that mean the most to me.

I don't have a specific study routine as my other responsibilities outside of studying won't allow for a rigid routine, so I pick up my computer, notebook, and pen during the spare time I get and just work.

There are still days, especially when there is a lot of stress at home or my husband to whom I am a registered carer has a lot of pain, when I tell myself that I will fail. This usually occurs on days when I can't find a spare moment to do the work. I help myself by filling a journal with my own, personalized study quotes to motivate me, and my favorite one is:

"When bricks tumble, a builder buys more to build a house."

Little quotes like this help to motivate me when everything feels like it is falling on top of me, and I want to give up.

Some of you who are reading this might be telling yourselves that it is too late, or life is too busy for you to achieve your dreams. However, sit with a notebook and write everything down that you want to achieve in no specific order; then, go back to it after a few days, and write your list in order, with the topics you are most passionate about at the top of that list. When you have done this, you'll see clearly where your passions are.

If you think that you will fail before you start, think about these questions:

What would achieving your dreams mean to you?

If you fail, then are you passionate enough to get up and try again?

What about success? How will that make you feel?

Are you telling yourself that you will fail before you try because you have never done this before? How will you know if you don't try?

Believe in yourself, because where there is failure, there is always success.