Dream is a beautiful word and has many meanings. It carries different interpretations for different individuals.
The dictionary describes it as, “a series of thoughts, images, and sensations occurring in a person’s mind during sleep.”
There are dreams that you see in your sleep and there are those that keep you going after them, forgetting whether you slept or not. If your life is without any turbulence, everyone loves you; all your ideas are accepted with no opposition- it simply means that your dreams aren’t big enough! Each one of us is capable of dreaming, it’s a fantasy world. We can be all that we want to be, want to have or want to do. But a majority of us are dreamers only in our sleep.
Dreams-The Moving Force
If you ask older people, say adults for that matter; to list some of their dreams. It’d be very difficult for them to come out with even 10. The other day I was talking to my husband, asked him what his dream was, He couldn’t come out with any. I know that he has been a go getter, an achiever in his own right and I am proud of him. But he, in his mid 40s, having about 25 glories years in his career; couldn’t think of a single dream.I am a person who’ll always talk about positivity, optimism and dreams. Wanted him to think about his too, the ones that he cherished and those that were hidden somewhere. I felt the need to wipe the dust that was gathering over them and hiding them from his vision as well as his mind. He represents a lot of us out there who have forgotten what dreams they once saw. I feel that we all need to have that drive to keep us going otherwise life certainly has no meaning, isn’t it? Read this interesting article on Why dating a sailor is really awesome
At the same time it made me wonder, why does this happen to people? Where do our dreams go?
What distinguishes us from other animals is that we dream, we believe in them and we have the capabilities to achieve them. I also happened to ask my young sons the same question and they both had many to share. In fact the elder one wrote down a big list of his dreams right from what he wanted to become when he grows up to the kind of house, car, toys, electronics, bikes and loads of other things that he wanted. The younger one, who is 7 and not really fond of writing, told me more things than his brother. You know how kids are! To seek my appreciation he ensured that he had things that sounded jazzy in his list!
It made my thoughts even stronger that there had to be something that killed our dreams. When we grow up the focus moves from our aspirations to the harsh realities of our lives and that we somewhere forget to dream. As children our dreams are so many that we need to stretch both our arms to try holding and expressing them. As we grow up, finish school or university studies and embark into professional lives; we then try to fit the wish list into our earnings. It list looks so exhaustive. We then try to make it smaller and smaller till it fits into the pay checks that we receive. This we take as our realities, the bitter truths and live by them.
In the process we tend to lose our dreams, some may even kill them. The people around us become experts in telling us what works and what doesn’t. Society starts forming rules for the living safely, following somebody and doing what someone wants us to do. Society somehow becomes like the stadium where a cricket match is on and passing their expert comments and directing players to play the shots. Does this work? Does the advice work? Will the players listen to these so called experts sitting up in the stands? Definitely not!
Then why do we listen to others when it comes to our own dreams. We create them in our imagination and in our subconscious minds. We visualise how to take them forward, what measures on our part will take them closer to realisation. We know the journey that we have walked and the steps that’ll take us closer to our yearnings.
Our dreams are ours and only ours! We must certainly not risk them at the mercy of others.
I love this saying;” If you can dream it you can do it”. If you were not capable of doing it you wouldn’t have even imagined it in your wildest. But if you have dreamt it then give it wings and allow it to take off.
Why isn’t it that simple and who really comes in the way of your dreams?
It can be YOU, the experts in the society, your own circle of friends who haven’t attempted what you are thinking of and the general experts who have no experience whatsoever. If dreamers and achievers listened to the losers in life, the earth would have still been flat, the sun would’ve been the centre of the universe and there would’ve have been no invention or a discovery. Calm seas never made able sailors! Let there be some storm and you row your boat to safety, sinking in every little adventure adding to a bouquet of memories that you can cherish all your life. We all know that we have this one life, this one opportunity to live to the fullest! Do what you want to do, be constructive, be an achiever, live a worthy life and be proud of what and who you are.
