catgirl1067 member for 32 weeks 2 days Send a message

Greetings all AlphaWomen! As my maiden voyage into the world of blogging, I would like to share an inspirational story with you. I am an advisor at Kendall College and part of my job is to help prospective students pursue their passion. In my many years in college advising, I have worked with my share of high school seniors, degree completers, and career changers trying to decide that age old question "What to do I want to be when I grow up?" It is particularly the career changers who, although they have a strong desire, often lack the confidence to take action and make a radical change in their life in order to pursue career happiness. "What if I'm making a huge mistake?" or "I'm too old to change direction now." are some of the more common objections. As of a few weeks ago, I now have new response...Meet the Vogels.

The Vogels are a couple who came to Kendall College just over a year ago wanting to pursue a culinary arts education. For those of you unfamiliar, Kendall College is one of the top 10 Culinary Arts schools in the country and, not surprisingly, culinary arts is by far our largest program. What was surprising were the aforementioned Vogels; not that they were a husband and wife wanting to go to culinary school together, but that they were both in their 70's when the enrolled. Yes, you read that correctly. The Vogels had held many careers over their lifetime but were not ready for the world of retirement. They both had a desire for the culinary world and wanted to start a catering business. They are one of the nicest couples you will ever meet and were fully aware that they were likely to be the oldest students at Kendall. I am also certain there were a few chuckles at the thought of this post-retirement couple withstanding the daily rigors of a year-long program in which they would be subjected to long hours in the kitchen and holding up against students more than half their age. Well a few weeks ago there were no chuckles, only rousing applause as this couple walked across the graduation stage to accept their diplomas. Oh yes, and they have already started their catering business.

The moral of this story is very simple: WE are our own biggest obstacles in pursuing our dreams. My favorite quote is from Wayne Dyer; "There is no scarcity of opportunity to make a living at what you love, only scarcity of resolve to make it happen." Don't let YOU be the thing that stops you from achieving your dreams.