The Choice to Follow Your Dreams

I have done it. I have graduated. I have now finished university. While I am very happy about this, it is also a nerve racking time. A time of the unknown, and where I have no idea (well maybe a small idea) of where my life is going to go.

Graduation speeches are always meant to be uplifting, to tell the graduates that their whole life is ahead of them and that they can achieve anything they want. And this is a great message. And it will be true for a lot of people. But the sad thing is that no matter what, not everyone will get their happy endings.

Maybe all the graduates will, seeing as they’ve already done something a lot of people don’t. But even among them, will everyone succeed? Will everyone follow their dreams? Or will they get lost? Or get stuck on a little island they never intended to go to? Or even if they do everything right, there is always the chance they’ll make an early exit. Some people who have gone to the same university as me have already made an early exit and didn’t even make it to graduation. (I’m talking about death, not dropping out in case you’re wondering).

This isn’t really what bothers me though. I think if people set out to achieve their dreams, they are more than capable of doing that. What bothers me is the people who let their dreams slip right through their fingers like sand. The people who either don’t have the courage or they believe that their dreams are not a priority or just never get around to it. The people who could have made something great of their lives, but instead lost the path and never found it again.

Now I understand that people have obligations, they have bills. I myself am going to have to start paying student loans in the fall. (Funny how going to university is seen as this amazing thing that will enhance your life, yet it puts you in the debt hole when you’re young, don’t have a job, and are living at your parent’s house. Thanks society). But when you let your dreams die or lie dormant, a part of yourself also dies or lies dormant. When you feel your dreams calling you it pains you not to follow them, and when people ignore that pain that’s when they get into trouble, because eventually that pain goes numb.

Following your dream is not an easy thing to do. One of the things I’ve noticed among myself and other writers is that procrastination is an evil demon just waiting for you to come join him for tea. And there is always the chance that you won’t succeed, or you’re not as good as you thought you were. But ask yourself this, can you really afford to not follow your dreams? To not at least try? Or are you content with letting a part of yourself go numb? Even if you don’t have a lot of time, you can still find an hour here or there to work toward your dream. You just have to be persistent and make it a priority.

Have you stumbled off the path, or know someone who has? Or perhaps you’re also a new graduate and are wondering what to do with your life? Where does your dream fit into your life?