Go on and dream it is allowed

It has been said a great number of times. I’ve seen it on television, I’ve heard it from the elders at home, I was told about it at school and I have let it beam from some little corner of my heart as I’ve remained hopeful for the future.

In my mind it is written in bold letters, in bright red and it screams at me. "DREAM BIG", it says. Dream big. I have been told this a great number of times, so many times that I’ve even stopped counting. If I can dream it, I can do it, I’ve been told.  I took this as gospel truth and took it just as it was presented to me. If I could dream it, I could do it. Yes. So I started dreaming it, dreaming of everything that I wanted to do in life. Everything that I wanted to achieve and whatever my heart had desired were to be handed to me on that proverbial silver platter all because I had the ability to dream. Yes, that was to be the life. I dreamt and I dreamt big. I held nothing back, I wanted it all. The childhood dreams of that big house (with pink window seals), the perfect family with kids who look like Barbie dolls, the multiple cars parked in my multiple garage spaces, and of course the perfect career. That job with flexible working hours, the one in which I was my own boss, I answered to no one but myself and could do anything that I wanted. And all of that I could get only if I managed to envision it. That sounded like the perfect deal to me. This was too easy. Bring it on, I would think to myself. Things were going great and I was on top of the world. When I finished my high school I chose a career that I wanted to study towards and then went on to university to get it all started, this with all my dreams still intact.

 But alas, the world isn’t always friendly. As I grew older, I started to realise how big of a chunk of information was left out of the "if you can dream it, you can do it" speech. At one point I felt betrayed; no one had prepared me for what was to come later in life. When reality struck, I realised how different the outside world was. Of course I knew that things were not going to appear from the horizon just because I wished for them. Hard work and perseverance in what I set my mind on was to play a major role. I was forced to learn quickly about whom I was and what I was about, this so that I could have a better idea of how to deal with whatever situation I was faced with.

This will apply differently to different people. We all have our dreams, and each our own realities. It is upon us, and only us to make them what we want them to be. Of course when we are young and don’t know better we have unrealistic hopes and dreams; this is so because we do not possess any wisdom or experience of some situations…

We should then learn to take opportunity when it presents itself. Even so, would it not be better for you to create these opportunities instead of having to wait for one to present itself? Work hard and never give up is easier said than done so it can never always be easy. It often is the case that we do not believe much in ourselves, that we do not think we can be the people we want to be because of our backgrounds, our fear of what we might become or whatever it is that might hold us back. We should not let that deter us from achieving what we want. We should all create our own success stories. It is not always easy, but it is possible. So do go on and dream…it’s allowed!