Alyssa-Dreams

Mr. Walt Disney has said, “A dream is a wish your heart makes.” So dreams hold what our hearts most desire, what we truly see as magical and what we yearn for the most. Sadly, dreams have also slowly become a fleeting item of the past. Each day we dream less, we lose hope in attaining these dreams, we believe not in our dreams but in the fact that there is no way to get them. Dreams, everyone tells us to go and chase after them, however at the same time we’re put down for even thinking about them. At a young age we are told that we can go for whatever we want. Astronaut? Sure. President? Definitely. Painter? Of course. Rockstar? Doctor? Most definitely. Go for it. However nowadays, we’re stuck thinking we aren’t good enough, that our dreams are pointless, there’s no way we can be successful pursuing them. The parents that used to encourage us to be whatever we wanted, are the same ones saying there is no possible way to make a good living out of it and to quit dreaming and think of a more practical job that’ll provide a more sustainable living. Because of this and many other reasons, we stray away from our dreams. Because of these doubts we go for the more logical answer, the job that will offer us the most money, the job that’ll give us the biggest house and the fanciest cars, the job that seems most practical to todays times of bustling and busy-ness. Because we give up on our dream, they remain a dream. Because we leave them in the past, they turn into a memory. Rather than being what we actually hoped to be, we’re stuck regretting what we didn’t do. Are we happy with this option? Do we feel like the path picked out for us is better than what we originally wanted? Is it in anyway the career you actual want to pursue? For some of us, we are lucky enough to say yes. Yes this is where I want to go, yes I feel happiest going down this road, yes I have found what I want to be doing for the rest of my life and with no regrets shall continue along being the happiest I can be. However for a good majority, the answer is no. No, I wanted to be a painter but the world says it’s not ethical and there’s no way my art will sell. No, I can’t be an astronaut because it’s too hard and it’ll take too long. No, I can’t be the dancer I dreamed of being because there aren’t enough jobs that cater to my preferred hobby that shall provide a good enough pay to sustain my family. No, I can’t go to college and get a cooking degree because everyone says cooking is a joke. No, my parents won’t let me be an actor because the opportunity of me making it to the big screen is far too slim. No, I wanted to be a writer, but everyone kept telling me to try something else. Even just saying what your dream is already elicits strange reactions from others and you can see it on their face when you tell them. They believe you’d be better off being a nurse or a lawyer or a secretary or some cubicle job that strays far away from your true fantasy. Too often we see people straying away from their true dreams because of the doubts surrounding us and then slowly we conform to the idea that those dreams were too far fetched anyway. Though sad, it is true that less and less of us are actual going out of our way to reach for the dreams we originally had in mind. Our hearts yearn for one thing but the real world snaps back at us saying to lean towards something more practical. It’s nice when you see other find a balance between their dreams and the real world but too many settle for being content rather than actually happy with what they’re doing. The luckiest are those who get to pursue their dreams full on. The ones who have worked hard to attain what they want because they knew that giving up on it wasn’t the best option. The ones who kept dreaming. So why do we all settle for leaving our dreams a dream? Why do we allow the world to dictate and tell us that our dreams are too far fetched? When instead we should be striving for them, when we should keep dreaming, when we should be turning all of our dreams into a reality because there is a purpose. I believe that when you make a dream come true, your heart’s wish is then fulfilled and only then are we happiest so why not at least try to make it come true? “All our dreams can come true if we have the courage to pursue them,” Walt Disney sure knew the importance of our dreams and I hope you do too.