Dare to aspire.....to follow your dreams

I find it interesting that "to have a dream" is often viewed as something quite positive, but to be a "dreamer", not so much.

According to Merriam and Webster: a dreamer is "a person whose ideas and plans are not practical or based in reality". Another definition I found is: "a person who is unpractical or idealistic".

How fortunate is it not for mankind that there are many people who may have been labelled "dreamers" that decided to ignore words to that effect?

Arthur Schopenhauer, concerning new ideas: "First, it is ridiculed, Second, it is violently opposed, Third, it is accepted as being self-evident."

Often great ideas spring forth from someone asking "what if?", or having a dream that something seemingly impossible, could one day be possible. Cars, planes, computers, space travel, the internet, etc.etc....the list is endless of things we today take for granted and self-evident, that not so long ago was someone's crazy idea, or impossible "dream".

"Fly like a bird? you're dreaming." "Go to the moon? you're dreaming." "Split an atom? you're dreaming." "Talk with someone on a phone without any connecting lines? you're dreaming."

A child who dreams of becoming an astronaut, a famous rock star, a lion tamer, an explorer, etc. is perhaps charming and endearing, but more common than not, as the child grows older, he/she will often be told that those dreams are idealistic and unpractical.

(At this point I would like to make a distinction between having a "dream" that one day I will...xxx.... and daydreaming. Daydreaming in my view is when we "space out", detach ourselves from our immediate surroundings by letting our minds "wander".)

                   Some suggest that it is very important for human beings to have hopes and aspirations, because without them we can easily feel lost and direction-less. (Aspirations, another word that we can use for "dreams".) Our aspirations can vary from becoming better spellers to flying a jumbo jet, exploring the Simpson desert to opening a coffee shop, overcoming a fear of heights to making a perfect soufflé, and so on. Aspirations can potentially help us focus our attention, help us make plans, help us find qualities within ourselves we didn't know we had, help us make new friends by pursuing something we enjoy that others also enjoy, and following and fulfilling aspirations we may experience feelings of validation, etc.etc.

An aspiration, perhaps can be likened to the "beginning" of what motivates us to want to learn/experience something, and setting goals, can help us get to the "end".

Perhaps your aspiration is to learn another language and your goal to be able to speak it fluently. The aspiration then may motivate you to enrol in a class or buy a book, or learn on-line, and with the goal in mind, your aspiration can become a reality as you proceed in the learning process.

As a child, I had a dream of one day becoming a musician and composer. That dream became a reality as I took all the steps necessary in order to make that dream come true. Making a "dream" come true involves a lot of work; some hard, some fun, some enjoyable; but without taking some form of action, achieving it will be very difficult.

Aspirations/dreams come in many sizes, but the fulfilment of them have one thing in common: action, and the first action that can be helpful is to set goals.

Beginning with smaller ones building up to bigger ones. Each achieved goal helps us to stay motivated and on track to reach/fulfil, our end goal(dream/aspiration).

Remember, "a journey of a thousand steps begins with a single step".

 

"The more closely you get in touch with your dreams, the more able you are to make them real. The more vividly you consider how you want your world to be, the more real and effective tools you will have for making it so."
 (Ralph Marston)

 

"Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world."
 (Harriet Tubman)