A lil’ Thought on Having Dreams

Do you think having dreams is still important? Is there a age limit to forego those dreams and to be more “realistic” for the “real world”. Maybe it’s my naive mind or outlook on life, but I still think dreams are sill important today.

I got to thinking about this on the train ride from home on Friday night. I heard these two older men talking about a friend who was looking for a new job because he wasn’t satisfied and wanted to go after his dream job. The two men laughed about it and went on into this conversation about how dreams are for children. One of them even said he no longer tells his kids to dream big because it’s unrealistic…instead he tells them that they need a job that will pay the bills. Statements like: “No one enjoys their job, if they did, employers would have to charge admission”, “finance and computer fields are the best to go into because of the money”, “going after your dream is a waste of time and living on $10,000 a year”. 

Who said that going after your dream, whatever it may be, mean compromising your quality of life? Yes, there are fields out there that will guarantee you 100K+ salary, but does that make these people happier? I wanted to tell the two men to show me how many people in finance are happy beyond the money – what they would rate their quality of life. Because, I know plenty of people who have made lots of $$ but said it wasn’t worth it. Stop thinking that the amount of money in the bank account equates to the level of happiness in someone’s life. 

Having dreams help propel us forward to achieve more. Big ideas and innovations do not come out of entering a “safe” field. People follow their passions in life to get meaning out of it – happiness comes from so many different places, why can’t it be from your career? And dreams can apply to other areas of our life beyond our career. It’s not a black and white situation – dreams can be how we see our future life, where we want to live, who we want to be surrounded with, family life, etc. 

Never compromise your future dreams for comfort now. Work harder to achieve them! Your current state should be propelled to satisfy your future state. Moral of this entire rant post today is to tell you that you are never too old/young to dream, your career can be something you enjoy doing, money doesn’t equate to everything for your happiness. Focus on what you want to achieve, the life experiences you’ve gotten and will continue to experience, and the memories that you’ve make and will make with the people around you. Life fulfillment comes in all shapes and forms, don’t let society shape yours. 

DREAM BIG AND DREAM MORE!

A million and one thanks for reading – until my next lil’ thought then!

xx jen