I was reminded at my most recent GoalFriends meeting how “dream work makes the team work.”  The brilliance in my GoalFriends is amazing, or in GoalFriends language, goal-mazing!  It’s not as if I needed reminding, but I missed my last GoalFriends meeting because I was out of town and didn’t realize my goal-o-meter was running on empty.  Now, it’s filled back up and on overdrive!

As usual, I left my GoalFriends meeting more empowered, more encouraged and above all, most inspired as I shared my latest goals in my own transformation journey of growth.  I’ve told my GoalFriends that I have been more emotional (and cried) with them the past year, more than I have in the past several years.  This month, was no exception.  The topic, “What you Focus on Magnifies,” made me realize a stressor in my life is trying to be perfect, especially in the eyes of my parents.  I’m talking about the “Tiger Mom” mentality which I grew up with and couldn’t stand.  However, here I am being ‘Tiger Mom 2.0,’ the nickname a fellow grad student coined me years ago.  I identify with this because I’m still struggling in my 40s on how to please my parents, constantly seeking their approval in some fashion because I feel like they don’t think I’m good enough.

It wasn’t what I shared that brought me to tears before my GoalFriends.  It is how close and safe I feel with them because there exists an extraordinary connection between us.  My GoalFriends’ desire to see me grow and be happy with myself is so genuine.  This brings me to tears every time!  Even in my therapeutic work, I have heard it all and enough to pull at one’s heart strings.  However, with GoalFriends, there’s magic at work where an unbelievable bond is formed as our dreams come into play.  What other meeting can you go to where you open up with a B.R.A.G. (Be Recognized for Achieving a Goal) focused solely on what you have accomplished?  Our dreams become a reality in GoalFriends because we celebrate one another’s successes.  By carving out time each month for our own “BRAGs,” we see how much each of us have accomplished.  And, that’s only how we open up the meetings!

In just eight months, my GoalFriends’ dream work, which includes starting and growing their own businesses, leaving a difficult work situation, getting a new job, being promoted, traveling the world, or even focusing on their personal relationships, has created an unprecedented team work.  Watching each other’s unique transformations is a powerful testimony and propels us forward believing that anything is possible to achieve with our GoalFriends.  Our relationships are a witness in themselves.  As my favorite childhood character, Anne of Green Gables would call us – ‘kindred spirits’ we are indeed.  My GoalFriends have my back.  My dreams have become their dreams and their dreams have become my dreams.  Together, we offer each other our own unique strengths to achieve our goals.  We all have dreams, GoalFriends will get you there because I’m already achieving mine.

Jeanie Y. Chang, LMFT, CCTP –

Chief Operating Officer, GoalFriends