I used to fantasize alot in my teenage years. The craziest idea I had was thinking I was a very talented person who works behind the scenes in FOREIGN movies and TV production. I’m hazy about what I actually do but it’s a job that allows me to talk freely with the actors. My ultimate crush that time was Alexis Bledel from her role in Gilmore Girls so obviously the crazy dream revolves around me and her (Thank God I didn’t end up gay watching girly shows haha). The only popular movie I know she made was a co-lead role in The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants.
Anyway, my point is I used to dream big. I used to imagine before that I was a detective, or a creative writer, or a forensics expert or just about anything, really. I was a teenager and I dreamed like a kid. I used to dream big, and then life happened. I grew up.
I have a theory that our ability to dream big is inversely related to the amount of responsibility we take. The larger our responsibility as a child, the lesser the chances of developing our imagination. It is because being responsible at a younger age exposes us to the world of adults, where dreams are very limited. Of course, it’s not always true that people with no responsibility have the wildest imaginations, an example being a rich golden-spooned kid bummer. If you have all the psps and xboxes, why imagine a completely unrealistic world when you can just play it, right?
It is not surprising that children’s books like Paolo Coelho’s The Alchemist or St. Exupery’s The Little Prince are popular to adults. It reminds us of a time when we were once dreamers and the rulers of our own world. Adult life is hard and can be really complex, but it doesn’t mean they can’t dream. As a tribute to my old self I listed down dreams I want to achieve. These are not the impossible and hallucinatory kinds, but the ones that are more attuned with reality and can be perfectly attainable during one lifetime. I feel I owe it to myself to accept these as challenges and not write it off as impossibly difficult just because others say it can’t be done.
1. Establish my own business that will make Manny Pangilinan drool with envy. This is in part to fulfill my quest to financial freedom and to satisfy a need to use my skills in accounting.
2. Write a fictional book. Somehow I still can’t shake this idea in my head that given a different circumstance, I would have studied to be a writer.Anyway I know I just have to keep on writing and this will be a reality.
3. Live a happy, simple yet meaningful life. I have been blessed that I now know who I want to spend my life with, We just have to work together on how we define a simple life.
4. Travel the World, or at least a significant part of it.
I don’t believe that dreams should stop the moment we grow up, It should stop the moment we draw our last breath. Seize every moment. Dream and find a way to make it happen, because no one else will ever do that for you.
Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.- Albert Einstein
