February 3, 2025

 My sons reading journey- And what it means for dream chasing 

My son was a slow reader. I worried he’d get teased at school and be haunted by the trauma for the rest of his life. Turns out I needn’t have worried. Even though my son couldn’t read- at all!- he thought he could. In fact he told me several times, “Mom, I’m a really great reader!” 

And wouldn’t you know it, he eventually learned to read. 

It is shocking how often what we can do, and what we believe we can do are the Exact Same Thing. 

The first step to reaching your dream is believing you can do it. This doesn’t come easily to everyone, so I’m sharing my best tips:

Remind yourself of your track record. I have a Greatest Hits list of every cool thing and impressive feat I’ve accomplished and I play it on repeat in my brain when self-doubt creeps in. 

Surround yourself with support. My best friend once sent me a video singing Living on a Prayer where she rewrote all the lyrics to talk me off a ledge. Don’t have an awesome best friend? Hit reply to this email and I will send you a pep talk you will never recover from (in a good way).   

Speak to yourself how you would to a loved one. If your friend wanted to join an acapella group for accountants called Spreadsheet Serenades, would you tell her she was a horrible singer and didn’t have time for it? No way. You’d tell her to sing like it was April 16. Give yourself that same love. 

You don’t even have to be that good. This doesn’t sound encouraging, but has proven surprisingly helpful! If I thought I had to be a NYT Bestseller to justify writing, I wouldn’t write. You don’t have to be good at your dream in order to chase it. Take the pressure off yourself to be the next Picasso, and just pick up the paintbrush. 

Whatever your dream looks like, believing you can get there is the first step to success. And for what it’s worth, I believe you can do it. Next week I’ll show you how. 

Keep turning pages,

Libby