what’s happened to our dreams?

Where have our dreams gone? As children we had many. Through high school and college they were, perhaps, refined. And now…? In my conversations with college students and recent college graduates, I’ve been talking and thinking quite a bit about dreams for the future…theirs’ and mine, specifically and generally.

My six-year-old daughter dreams of being an astronaut, a baker, a teacher, a mom, a veterinarian and a farmer. I tell her time and again that she can be all of those–even all at the same time. This is her dream. What is yours? What is mine?

Do we need dreams to propell us? To motivate and prompt us?
Do dreams fit within the context of everyday reality?
Are dreams meant to be achieved?
Or, is the point that they are just dreams–never intended to be actualized?
Why is it that so many dreams are quite easily derailed or self-sabatoged?
Is the journey of pursuing a dream more fulfilling than actually achieving it?

Two of my friends, Ann & Jean (names changed because they may actually read this blog), have very different experiences regarding their dreams:

For Ann, over the last few years she has witnessed, one by one, each of her college dreams come true. Now that nearly all her dreams are fulfilled, she’s come to realize they don’t measure up to what she expected them to be. Fulfilling her dreams have not fulfilled her drive. New dreams are taking place of the old.

In contrast, Jean had many ambitious dreams that have never taken shape. She has watched others take steps toward the life she always dreamed of, but never achieved. Today her dreams are being weeded out by new desires. She is consciously opting for a path which will likely not lead to the fulfillment of her original dreams. She’s okay with that trade.

I can relate with both friends. Perhaps you can, too. I have both watched my own dreams manifest before my eyes, and watched friends and mentorees take steps in their lives I was unable (or opted) to not take. Like Ann, I have been diappointed when the realities haven’t matched the expectations of my dreams.

So if we are disappointed by our dreams, or don’t really intend to achieve our dreams, what’s the point of dreaming? Is it simply the pursuit? The chase of a dream which motivates us to just keep going?

All I know is that a world without dreams seems like a sad and lonely place. It’s too depressing for me to consider living without having dreams to strive for. So I’ll keep dreaming–outlandish, dangerously challenging dreams. And I’ll take one step at a time. Maybe I won’t achieve those dreams until I’m in my 90’s, but they’ll keep me going.