I am a go-getter.

When I decide to make a change, I don’t wait. I do it.

One day, I knew I had to move out of my home. The next week, I had an apartment. I knew that I wanted to find gigs closer to my new home, so I contacted all of the studios and gyms that I could in the area. I knew that I wanted to find ways to use writing and editing to generate income and I have found ways to do that, by networking and answering ads on Craig’s list.

I believe in creating opportunity. No one is going to knock on my door and hand me my dreams. No potential employer is going to petition me for my time. No one is looking for me who does not know me.

No one needs me more than the next person.

That is a fact of life. We can be replaced, and often, we are.

Trust me—we are all unique with gifts. But, the functions that I serve in life, can be done by most anyone else.

The love that I give, the way that I give, can only be done by me.

I teach yoga, along with the rest of the world. I write. And again, thousands write. I am not the best and I am not the worst. Like I said, we all have our gifts. What defines the gift is the way that we process life and give it back to those that we love with love.

But being able to love someone, being able to love anyone, does not pay my bills. Being able to feel my emotions strongly, never got me hired anywhere. Being compassionate and caring, caused me grief in the working world.

So how do I go about creating opportunity? How do I survive in metropolitan Washington, DC (though I am way out in Frederick now), in a world that is competitive and often harsh? Well it took a good 20 years, but growing a thicker skin, has helped.

And to be honest, it’s been a challenge. But I am fond of saying that “I do what I love and love what I do.” I realize that there are many who cannot say that.

Right now I am treading water, but I expect that to change. And why shouldn’t it? Everything else has.

I check Craig’s list all the time just to see what’s what, whose looking for whom.

I network and work hard and reach out to people and my life is fuller because of it.

I create opportunity because I am always looking for ways to make my dreams come true.

And though it may be harder to dream at my age, I still do.

Today my dreams are simple: I want to be able to write my dad a check for enough money that it would make a difference, I want to take more yoga teacher trainings to get my 500 hours, I want to buy a Prius and I want to get out of debt so that I can save money for the day when I can no longer work much (which, by the way, I don’t see happening). But life is full of surprises and right now the right surprise could leave me homeless and hurting instead of dancing and celebrating.

I believe anything is possible…maybe not everything, but definitely anything.

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Editor: Rachel Nussbaum

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