All Doors Open If You Dare To Go In

 

How often do we tell ourselves that we can't do something? We give ourselves a million reasons why we can't have what we really want. We go through life refusing  to see the open doors, making excuses and fooling ourselves that there are no opportunities. Fooling ourselves that there are no open doors, but there are. They are there.

In 1849 England born, Elizabeth Blackwell became the first woman ever to receive a medical degree.

What would have happened if she hadn't seized every opportunity she could to learn and grow in a time when women were looked upon by most as inferior. She spoke two languages outside her own. She became a teacher to help support her family after the death of her father and when she realized the opportunity there was and the difference it could make to have women physicians, in other words she saw the open door, she pushed through.

Were there real obstacles? Yes. Her acceptance to Geneva college in New York was intended to be a practical joke. Weren't they surprised when she showed up? And even more surprised when she stayed and endured being ostracized daily by professors and fellow medical students alike. Weren't they surprised when she graduated top of her class!

Were there real obstacles? Yes. Due to a loss of eyesight in one of her eyes after an infection, Elizabeth's dream of becoming a surgeon would be impossible. Still she looked for the open doors. When no one would let her practice or even rent a room to practice, she still looked for open doors.

In her lifetime she opened a clinic for the poor and then a hospital. She practiced medicine, taught about it, wrote about it and inspired countless women to follow in her footsteps. She lived her dream, obstacle and all. She looked for every open door...and dared to go inside!

Your dreams may not come easy. You will have to work hard and fight for what you really want, but if you're brave? If you dare? All doors are open!