Guest Post: Married in Chicago

I have another fantastic guest post for you today, from Alisha at Married in Chicago. I was so excited when I found out that Alisha was willing to guest post for me today. A few weeks ago, I wrote about my 101 list and how I keep track of my goals. She responded to my post with such honesty that I just knew I needed to have her post for me. I am so happy to be able to share this with you today. Enjoy!

 

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Hi everyone! I am so excited to be guest posting on Where We Love is Home today, especially after I was so inspired by Joelle’s 101 in 1001 list. Let me start off by introducing myself. My name is Alisha and I blog at Married in Chicago. I love going out to restaurants, taking on home design projects, cuddling with my husband, and catching up on my favorite television shows. And like Joelle, I love a good margarita! Joelle’s courage to dream struck a deep-down chord in me. You see, I've thought about crafting a 101 in 1001 list. But, I have avoided writing my goals down. I’ve been scared of dreaming big and being honest with myself about what my goals are and scared of putting it out there for others to see. Looking at my life, you probably wouldn’t guess that I’m nervous about sharing my dreams. I’m in a competitive graduate program pursuing a profession that I’ve wanted to go into ever since I was twelve and I live by a “I do what I want” mantra. But, just because I’m headstrong doesn’t mean I can’t be insecure sometimes. What if people think my goals are stupid? What if I fail? What if? What if? What if?
 

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But, something Joelle said affected me deeply. And I think it bears repeating.

“Because when you write all of these things down, when you truly put it out there, they just start to happen. Think about it. How would you know that you've reached your goals if you didn't know what those goals were?”

This simple question made me realize that I am not even sure what my goals are. But, I refuse to keep myself from making goals because of some silly fear of failure. So, I am officially granting myself permission to dream big. And guess what? It turns out that all of my dreams are just waiting to leap onto the page. I want to do a lot of things, like: publish my research, travel to Paris with my husband, learn Spanish, run a 5k, grow my blog, live abroad for a year, start my own business, take up meditation, learn how to make a killer dirty martini, earn my Ph.D., have a baby, and try surfing, skiing, and snowboarding at least once. Oh, and there is one more thing I want to do. I want to finally write my own 101 in 1001 list.
 

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Thank you so much to Joelle for writing a beautiful and moving piece. And thank you for giving me space to share my experience. Has there ever been a time when you've been nervous about setting a goal? What happened? How do you get over being worried? I'd love if you shared one of your goals, big or small, with me! I hope that you will check in on me every once in a while at Married in Chicago because you guys truly inspire me.

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Thanks so much Alisha, for posting today. You really are fabulous!

xoxo,