It’s Never Too Late to Chase Your Dreams!!!!!

What an inspiring day today!!!! I spent almost my entire day with other women. That may not sound like a big deal, but in the security profession you don’t often get to spend hours at a time with other women. That’s also true outside of my security life with my LEGO hobby, because even most AFOLs (Adult Fans of LEGO) are men!

My first special event was a ninety minute conversation with a female colleague I’m just getting to know. In helping her with her plans for the future, I shared with her the importance of joining and getting involved with professional organizations, becoming certified in a security discipline and learning something new every day!! She kept thanking me for my help, but I actually felt like she had helped me, because she actually listened and immediately began acting on some of my advice.

In the second conversation, another woman and I shared ideas and best practices about a particular security topic and decided to conduct a training session together. We laughed and chatted easily and said we wished we had connected sooner. I can’t wait for our training session, showcasing the individual talents we both have. She’s not even thirty years old and I’m older than dirt, but our immediate connection confirmed that it doesn’t matter how old you are if you have the skills you need to accomplish your mission and dreams.

But the highlight of my day by far, was the podcast interview I gave tonight to my friend Aimee J, on her show Chasing Dreams! Aimee decided she was going to Chase her Dreams and started this professional podcast a couple of months ago and invited me to be a guest. I’ve been loudly cheering from her from the sidelines and am so proud of her! So HOW did I meet Aimee J. ???? She’s one of my former students at The George Washington University in my graduate level Investigations course. It’s been about 10 years since she took the course, but she still remembers a lot of the fun things we did in class, including an actual surveillance exercise (otherwise known as a stakeout). Each semester I’d bring my daughter Kim and other friends who agreed to be “followed” by my students to see how observant they were. It was an absolute blast and I can guarantee that everyone learned a lot.

Aimee was a truly special student!! She was attentive, questioning, participatory and brilliant, even going on to law school after GWU. She and I had many conversations after class each week, and kept in touch via email and social media in the years that followed. I love following the careers of my former students and I try my best to keep up with as many of them as possible (which is growing more difficult as I’ve now taught for more than 18 years). I’m proud of the fact that Aimee J. has gotten out there to Chase Her Dreams. I was so excited all day about being on her show, to explain how I’m fulfilling and still Chasing My Dreams by combining my passion for my security career, my book and my newest dream of getting paid for doing workshops where everyone plays with LEGO bricks. Aimee’s Chasing Dreams reminds me of what my Mom told me many times as I was growing up, “you can accomplish anything that you put your mind to”.  Thanks Aimee J. for visiting with me live, and for reminding me and your audience that it’s never too late to Chase Your Dreams! Much continued success to all of us out there Chasing Our Dreams!! Go For It, Keep at it and Never Give Up!!