The Secret

[image error]When I taught school kids, I always waited until we were on the cusp of goodbye to tell them The Secret.

Throughout the academic year, I’d drop lumbering, elephant-heavy hints by introducing my students to books and poems and plays that explored the idea of The Secret. But I’d never explicitly speak of it until five minutes before the bell was about to ring on our final lesson.

Why?

Because The Secret is so radical.

I needed hundreds of hours to open their minds to possibility first. If I’d told them on lesson one, alongside warning them against waving chairs around at head level lest they poke a classmate’s eye out with one of the merciless metal legs manufacturers like to fix to seating designed for children, they wouldn’t have believed me. I hadn’t yet earnt their trust, and this particular truth can only be accepted if it comes from a person you trust.

The Secret is: whatever you want, you can have it.

This is not a trick. Whatever dream is in your heart can be lived outside of it. Want to change the political landscape? Correspond with people who already have a career in politics. Want to open a restaurant? Take some classes in catering.

If you don’t have the money for a training programme, start working on your dream as a hobby, ask for sponsorship, work two jobs to fund your aspirations or volunteer your time in an organization that will help you develop the skills you need (yes I have done all these things even though they were hard/scary. It was worth it.).

Your dreams may not always happen quite as you imagined, they may take time to achieve and people may not respond to your work in the way you’d hoped. But if you can find joy in what you’re doing, no matter how long it takes to be recognized for it, you’ve already succeeded where countless others have failed.