In this reflective vlog recorded on August 6, 2024, Mary Schiller wraps up a 30‑day challenge of "following her dreams" while speaking from a local park. She reports concrete progress on two primary goals: rewriting the first 20% (≈20,000 words) of a novel she completed a decade ago, and beginning preparation for the DELF French exam, for which she has already registered for the October session. Fitness goals were not fully met, though she notes she remains active due to a car‑free lifestyle and plans to resume strength training and pool workouts. She celebrates growth in her YouTube channel, highlighting new subscribers and deep, meaningful comment conversations. The central insight she shares is the shift from measuring achievement to measuring activation—listening to oneself and acting on that inner signal. This insight sparked a new business focus: helping people find and amplify their voice. She announces a free live Zoom event on August 14‑15 titled "Find Your Voice" and invites viewers to join. The video ends with gratitude, an invitation for audience feedback, and a promise of future content.
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It is day 30. Hey, day 30 out of 30 days of following my dreams. I cannot believe I am on the very last day of this adventure, this challenge, this journey, whatever you want to call it. I am coming to you from my local park, so there is some noise in the background. I'm hoping that by holding the mic up you will not be able to hear it too much, but people are out and about today. It is August 6th, 2024, and I have some things that I want to share with you in this video about what I was able to do over these past 30 days, as well as something really important that I learned that I think can help you as well. So first things first, what did I actually do this month? What did I achieve? And it's been so interesting because I actually did a lot more than I thought I could. You may remember that there were two main things that I wanted to make progress on during this 30 days. One was starting to rewrite a novel that I finished 9 or 10 years ago now, and the other was working on my French to pass an exam. And oh my gosh, I actually rewrote the first 20% of my novel. So that's about— I think I'm at about 20,000 words words, which is incredible. I never thought I would be able to do that much, but once I committed to doing it, once I just started and said, you know what, this is happening and that's all there is to it, then I was able to make a lot more progress than I thought. And I'm actually really happy with what I have rewritten. The part that I'm working on now, as I've mentioned before if you've seen any of the other videos, is quite challenging, but now that I have started and done the first 20%, I know I can do it, and I am simply going to finish this rewrite before the end of 2024. That's all there is to it. On the language front, I did start studying for the DELF exam, and I registered and paid quite a hefty fee for it for October of this year. So I'm just going to keep going on that as well, keep going through the test book. It's pretty easy for me, so I'm not really worried, and the requirements for the test are pretty low in terms of passing. So again, not too worried, but I'm happy that I actually took the steps and started working on it. That was the most important thing. I had also wanted to work on some fitness-related things over the past 30 days, and That didn't really happen. However, I was as active as I usually am, maybe even more so. I'm a pretty active person because I haven't owned a car since 2006. I was realizing just how long ago that is, like 18 years. It'll be 18 years in December since we sold our cars. So I am pretty active. You know, when you don't have a car, you use your feet a lot more, and also public transportation, of course. So I don't feel badly about that. I'm just making some plans to keep going on what I want to do in terms of strength training, and I'm going to get back in the pool. I've started that process of applying for a discount coupon thing for the pool that's right across the street from where I'm talking to you. So things are underway. Some other tangible things that happened: I got some more subscribers to my YouTube channel, which was really fun. I had some incredibly deep and powerful conversations and connections with people here in the comments on the videos. So that's been amazing. Honestly, I wouldn't trade that for anything. That was worth the entire process to connect with people and have such amazing conversations in the comments. The thing that I really want to bring home is that I learned we are capable of doing so much more than we think we are. You may recall that in some of my earlier videos, I talked about the fact that we can start living in terms of activation, not achievement. So what is being activated in us each day? Not what am I achieving, what goals am I reaching? That can be really fun, but it's more about how often am I listening to myself and acting on what I'm hearing? For me, that has meant getting in touch with something that is really important to me, which is helping people find their voice. This is the breakthrough that I had related to my business over these past 30 days. Completely unexpected, did not think that this would happen, but I started to see, you know, there aren't a lot of people even my age getting out there on YouTube there are people who have a voice that they aren't feeling very secure in or confident about. I want to do something to change that. I want to support those people. I want to support people who see themselves as having greatness within them that they want to activate, that they want to bring a message to the world, that they want to do something bigger than what they have done. I am here for all of it, and that's where I am headed. I have already kind of stepped into this new world today because I shared a link to sign up for a new free live event that I'm hosting on Zoom on August 14th and 15th, and it's all about find your voice. I cannot wait to host this event. I don't mind if one person shows up, two people, 20, 200, it doesn't matter. I am going forward with this message because I have seen for myself just over these past few years how much it matters that you and I show up, and not just show up, but show up with confidence and power and conviction in what we are sharing with people and being an example to others that they can achieve and activate themselves in a way that maybe they haven't even realized they could. That is all for 30 days of following my dreams. I'd love to hear your comments on how this journey has been for you as you've gone through it with me. I will talk to you in another video and maybe in person on Zoom coming up. I love you so much. Thank you for all the support you've shown me. It's meant the world to me. Bye for now.
