A powerful call to action and re-orienting message to Millennials from Sonja Midtune - singer/songwriter out of LA.
My name is Sonja and I’m a singer/songwriter in Los Angeles here to tell you why to get back on track with that whole dream-following thing. I don’t want you to leave your 9 to 5 job and move to Los Angeles to become a starving musician, but what I DO want you to do is just sit for a second and remember what that dream for you was. Then, think about why it was your dream…and then think about what your dream could do for others. In this post I am going to guide you through this.
When many people think about what their ‘’dream” is, they
think about a money or status goal. This
included me; only my dream also consisted of a certain amount of Grammy’s and
credentials. There was nothing wrong
with that, but it was rather simple.
That dream only got me so far. It
got me to write some songs, release some music, and devote my lifestyle to
“making it in the music industry.” But
the truth was that I was way bigger than that self-centered dream; it wasn’t
“doing it” for me anymore.
I considered quitting and moving home, but when I started to
share my feelings, I actually upset a lot of people. “How are we supposed to follow our dreams
when you gave up on yours?” I realized I
was the reason so many people started to follow their dreams. So I got back on track: can’t stop now. Then what?
The dream was still to become a famous musician with Grammy’s, etc. but
I realized that I needed to think even further into it.
“Then what?”
This question
completely rocked my world, transformed why I stayed in the game, and who I
evolved into as a musician.
So I’m giving it to you.
Let’s go back…
A lot of people don’t think past the initial answer of what
they would do if they reached their ideal salary or won a million dollars. In fact, my first thoughts are:
Pay off my debts
Get my parents a house
Give lavish gifts to my friends
·
Donate a ton to charityTravel
But then what? You
can accomplish all of that within 6 months after you win the lottery or “make
it big.” It’s about whole “after”
part. So think down the series of
events…
Maybe this is your dream: “I want to be a CEO of a Fortune
500 company”
Awesome. What would
you do with that? “Then I could live wherever I want, not worry about finances,
be proud of myself, take care of my parents, give to charity…”
Yes. Then what? See…it stops there. Or sometimes it stops at “then I’d be happy.”
HAHA! No…
Keep going… Then what?
Then what?! If you have the tenacity to keep answering this question for yourself, you are likely going to find something huge –and that passion, cause, mission is most definitely going to get you up in the morning.
If I became a famous musician, and I had a ton of Grammy’s,
and all the money in the world to travel and donate, etc. Then who would I be? What would be my cause? If I had a magic wand, what about the
world would I change?
That’s when I realized; I would completely die happy if I
could make a HUGE difference in children’s global education. If every child stayed in school until they
were 18 and every little girl knew that she could go to school safely, that would be a dream worth fighting for. That’s
my cause. That’s my cause. That’s
my dream.
If you’re starting to think, “Yeah well, I’d like to make a
difference in the criminal justice system, but doesn’t everybody?” THE ANSWER IS NO!!!!!!!!! It’s not just you, but it’s uniquely you.
The most wonderful thing in the world is that everyone has a
different dream, and a different cause linked with that dream. Do you think that everyone donates to the Malala Fund every year? No. Do you think
that everyone creates a food drive for the homeless? No.
We pick and choose our causes and there’s nothing wrong with
that. In fact, it’s what makes the world
go ‘round.
Everyone has a different cause. Do NOT feel bad if you have a different one
than everyone else and please, run straight towards it! You don’t have to change your job to do this,
however, if your job doesn’t align at all with what you want to do in the
world, you may eventually want to reconsider what you’re up to.
You can keep doing
what you’re doing, but consider starting to have the conversations that will
have your cause gain speed. Be vocal. (An important note here - supporting something does not
mean bashing something else. It means championing a vision or an idea).
I want to let you in on why this is so important to me. I have realized in the last four years of
working on my music everyday and living in the atmosphere that is Los Angeles,
that it’s actually really hard to just do it for myself. My lottery list above is great, but not my end-all be-all. I need something bigger.
Bigger than my myself, friends, family, and community.
I finally turned getting up in the morning from “maybe
somebody will notice my music today” into The difference in the world. GET UP FOR THE WORLD.
That works for me.
Then what? Well, THEN I thought that if I could be a
hero for some little girl out there like my heroes were for me when I was
growing up, then I would do it for her.
That gets me up in
the morning.
For every girl and boy that discovers the world through
education, and a life that they didn’t know was possible…
When they discover my music because it will be all around
the world, who I will be is someone
who has been fighting for them endlessly.
I don’t have to sing about global education, I just have to be a stand for it and spread the
word. The best chance I have at making the
biggest difference in the world is by following my dream.
I’ll leave you with this:
What are the chances that landed you where you are? To be
under your roof with your background? To
be able to even consider following your dreams?
Consider that the way to make a huge difference is to do
what you were made to do for the world.
Consider that if you have heard the world “Millennial,” then
you are luckier than the 4.5 billion people in the world that don’t have
internet and haven’t even heard that word.
We watch 75 million hours of Netflix a year. (Time Magazine)
Almost 70 million children in Africa do not get to
go to school a day. (The Guardian)
So if you’re thinking, “Who am I to follow my dreams?”
Well I say...who are you not
to?
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