“Advice to my younger self: 1. Start where you are with what you have, 2. Try not to hurt other people, 3. Take more chances, 4. If you fail, keep trying” ― Germany Kent
A dream is something a person is visualizing on what their life would be in the future. It is, as Cinderella put it, a wish that your heart makes. It is a vision that makes people strive every day by setting some goals in their lives to reach it someday hopefully.
However, not all people get to reach their dreams. A lot of people gave up on the way. And those people get to live the life full of what if’s and If only’s. They get to live life without really living.
They are just an empty shell of the person they once were. The person that had believed held on and fought for the dreams and visions of their future selves only to give up and lose hope in the end.
Emotions play a substantial part in how people deal with their situation in their lives. If you failed to reach for your dreams and gave up, you will live full of regrets and anxiety that can lead to depression. This can cost you your well-being and maybe even your life.
So aside from saving yourself from the consequences of giving up on your dreams, here are a few reasons.
Why You Should Follow Your Dreams And Never Give Up
Failure Happens, And It’s Normal
“Great struggles make for great stories.” ― Sanober Khan
No one ever got their dreams without failing or struggle one or twice or many times! Take some of the famous and successful people who failed in life while they were starting out. They also had it rough, and they even tasted failure one way or the other.
Despite all that had happened to them, that did not stop them from trying. Through persistence, willpower and having faith and belief in themselves that made them rise from the ashes from their recent burn of failures. Just like the beautiful and powerful Phoenix.
Failures and mistakes happen in life. No one is perfect, and no one has ever lived their life without making a single mistake. They are not all bad. They are there for a reason. They are there to teach us what went wrong and to guide us on what not to do the next time we make a repeat. It also gives us the necessary knowledge on what to equip ourselves to reach our dreams more efficiently.
Anyone can rise and conquer their failures by learning from them. Unless you keep on failing without improving yourself, failure and mistakes should never be feared.
Dreams Make Life Livable
“Either you suffer & die or you choose to fight & rebirth until dreams cometh true and reach your home.” ― Ankit Samrat
Life is a big adventure, and it’s full of surprises that are just waiting to be discovered. But what happens when you have no dream whatsoever? You will probably wander around this lovely and beautiful world lost, empty and without any knowledge of what the purpose of your existence is.
Dreams make up your goals and wishes. Dreams are the vision of your projected future while your goals serve as your mission and stepping stone on your way to your dreams. Desires are the little things in life that you did when you wanted something to perk you up and help you keep going.
Dreams give your life direction. It helps you make better choices in life and makes you strive to do your best to get to where you want to go. They serve as the map of our purpose in existence, it is the blueprint of what we want our lives to shape, and it helps us by leading us to a path where we are meant to be.
You Won’t Know You Will Succeed Unless You Try
“Some people quit when victory is around the corner” ― Bangambiki Habyarimana, The Great Pearl of Wisdom.
There are endless and countless of reasons why people keep on giving up on their dreams. The most common of all is fear. Especially if it is about having a fear of the unknown.
There are endless of possibilities on how our actions will result to, if and when we get to take action when heading towards our dreams. However, that is not enough reason for you to stop following it.
Unpredictability is one of the charms of life. We will never know what’s under the box unless we try and get a peek. If we don’t do it, we will spend the rest of our days being haunted by our curiosity and at the thought of what is under there. Not taking risks when reaching for your dreams will result in you not amounting to anything.
Not taking risks when reaching for your dreams will result in you not amounting to anything.
Fear of the unknown is like fear of getting out of your comfort zone. You won’t know that you will like something new unless you try it. You won’t know if something works unless you try to turn it on. You won’t know where that road will lead you unless you take it. Sometimes, you’ve got to think that some risks are worth considering when you wanted your dreams to come true. Don’t just give up without even trying.
It’s Proof That You Can Do It
“When people tell you that you aren’t something or you can’t accomplish your dreams, you can either cry about it or prove them wrong.” ― Imania Margria
When people are trying to get in your way to your dreams, don’t let them. There are people in this world that thrive on other people’s misfortune. Don’t give up on your dreams because that’s what they wanted. They wanted you miserable; they wanted you to suffer.
They may have their reasons for being so. They could be a product of a dreamer who failed and gave up, that made them bitter, cynical and angry at the world. Or they could be those types of people who thought they already have everything and revel in their superiority by belittling others.
Keeping a tight grip and not give up despite the people around you tells you otherwise is one of the reasons that you shouldn’t give up. Reach for your dreams harder because no one can say that you can’t do it unless you let them.
When you succeed, you will get the satisfaction that you proved them wrong. The act is not because you wanted to rub your victory in their faces. It is to show that despite the adversities and the negativities that happened around you, you stood still and steady and you never got discouraged. Who knows, you might even inspire those poor, cynical and battered souls to take another chance to dream again.
Your Dream Is As Unique As You Are
“Believe in that One Thing That Sets You Apart: your skill, your idea or just you, yourself ! And, Never Stop Believing.” ― Bunny Naidu
I have a friend in a community that I am in. And that friend told me that maybe he should give up drawing when he saw my artworks as well as the artworks of our fellow community-mates. Honestly, I was a bit upset with that, and I gave him a piece of my mind.
I told him that if you think that you are not good at something where the others are good at, it is not your fault. Never, ever compare yourself to others. They have their styles and uniqueness in their works as well as a unique set of skills and talents that made them good at what they do.
And what do you have? You don’t have their talent and skills, no. But what you have is just as valuable as theirs. You have your own set of skills and abilities that other people don’t have. Dreams are not based on what others do. They can be influenced while you are growing up, yes, but your dreams are not made up entirely of those external influences.
Your dreams are as unique as you are and no one can steal them from you. The only way the people can take your dreams from you is when you give up on them. Therefore, they are stealing your chance of you landing on your dreams. So don’t let them bully you into giving it up.
Your dreams are as unique as you are and no one can steal them from you.
How To Keep On Dreaming And Aiming For That Goal?
1. Let Successful People Be Your Inspiration
“We can only reach the highest height if we encourage each other.” ― Lailah Gifty Akita, Pearls of Wisdom: Great mind
There are a lot of successful people who have failed but succeeded. There are also people who reached success but had yet to taste failure. Don’t let them intimidate you in any way. Don’t be scared at the thought that you wouldn’t be like them someday. Don’t say that they have what it takes and you don’t.
Instead of thinking such things and seeing them like they are discouraging you from moving forward, make them as your inspiration. Turn those negative thoughts around and get a new perspective on things.
Those fortunate people are still people. They are still your fellow humans, and they also went through pain and suffering as we do. However, they didn’t let that stop them. Let their determination and persistence influence you to be able to become like them someday because you can. And if they did it, so can you.
2. Someone Is Always There To Support You
“Love endures every circumstance; Love never loses hope, never loses faith and never gives up.” ― Lailah Gifty Akita, Think Great: Be Great!
Although that we know failure and mistakes can happen time and time again, it still doesn’t erase the fact that it is always painful emotionally, mentally, spiritually and sometimes physically. This leaves us exhausted and sometimes the thought of giving up is tempting.
However, don’t be lured to the temporary relief that it can give you. You don’t know that all you ever need is a companion who will listen to your complaints or just someone who will be there by your side during your tough times.
Moreover, that “someone” can come in all shapes and sizes. They can be your family, your significant other or maybe even your pets. When the going gets tough, a little comfort every now and again might just be the thing that you to perk yourself up and charge yourself for another go.
3. Savor The Mini-Successes Of Life
“Success is not final; failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.” ― Winston S. Churchill
Whenever you reach a goal, small as it may, reward yourself. You deserve a little, private party for yourself. You can celebrate it with your friends and family. Don’t be too hard on yourself by getting to work on your next goal just after you succeeded.
Savor the moment of that success and revel in the satisfaction by accomplishing something you’ve worked hard on. Take your time and enjoy before taking another goal that will lead you to that dream of yours.
Furthermore, you can make the reward system work by making it tweak your behavior. This way it will be easier for you to get to your dream by getting used to the goals that you’ve set yourself. You can do this by giving yourself the right reward that encourages your behavior in fulfilling your goals without you having to tell yourself that you do that.
4. Think Of The Joy Of Being Able To Reach It
“When a dream is fulfilled, it is always a glorious feeling.” ― Lailah Gifty Akita
To all of the people who achieved their dream, all answered the same thing. Happiness. Pure happiness. If you are happy and loving the accomplished feeling while reaching your goals, how much more when you think about the joy and loving feeling that you will get when you finally reach your dreams?
All those hard work, effort and sacrifices are more than worth it when you finally get to set foot in the lands of your dreams. Think about the times when you get to eventually stop the struggles of enduring failure after failure and get to be able to do something you love.
Apart from the joy that you will be feeling, that is not the only reward that you will be getting once you reached your dreams. You will also get to notice and meet the new you. The you who had matured, improved and become a better person from before. You may have changed, but it is for the better.
They say that life is a school and experience is a teacher. After achieving your dream, you can say that you’ve graduated with honors.
What Happens If You Reached Your Dreams?
Get A New Dream
“Well, that’s the good part, I guess. You get to go find a new dream.” ― Eugene Fitzherbert, Tangled”
Disney’s Tangles have made an impression on me the moment I watched it. I know that Disney features some inspirational and motivational messages in their movies for the audiences but as the days go by, their words are hitting the mark closer and closer to bull’s eye.
What made Disney’s Tangled very relatable is that Rapunzel represents every one of us. Rapunzel is the people who get cooped up and sheltered safe and sound in the embrace of their comfort zones. She is the people who are afraid of what will happen once they reached their dreams.
She is the voice of the people who are also thinking the same question, “What if it’s not everything I dreamed it would be? And what if it is? What do I do then?” And Flynn a.k.a Eugene is the voice of motivation and inspiration by answering that achieving a dream is not the end of your adventure. You get to find a new goal and get to start again. Only this time, dream bigger.
Fulfill A Once-Lost Dream
“Dreams are the touchstones of our characters.” ― Henry David Thoreau
You’ve been focusing on the dream of your future that sometimes you get to sacrifice the little things in the past and present to get there. But now that you finally arrived at your future, take time to turn around and visit the past.
If you have a childhood dream, as petty as it may seem, do it. Those dreams that you have when you were young has been the foundation and the culmination of the dream that you have achieved and worked so hard on.
You have plenty of time and are free of any goals at the moment, so why not indulge a bit in making your childhood dream come true? Not only will it finally give you peace and further happiness, but it will also make the child inside you happy and fulfilled as you had felt when you reached your ultimate dream.
Help Others Reach For Their Dreams
“A dream you dream alone is only a dream. A dream you dream together is reality.” ― John Lennon
If you have finally reached your goals and maybe hit a dead end, don’t rush yourself into another new dream. It will take time before the passion of another dream chasing adventure will come to you, so don’t worry.
While waiting for the flame of passion to rekindle, you can always lend a hand to the people who can learn from your experiences. Share and spread awareness that dreams do come true. Let them know that the happiness you are feeling is more than worth the struggles, pains, and aches that you have gone through. The same pains and aches that the people you want to inspire are going through.
Inspire other people and get to support them in achieving their own goals. You get to encourage others and pursue their dreams as well as be an inspirational figure to them. Just like the same successful people who had inspired you when you were starting out.
When To Stop Dreaming?
You Only Dream And Not Do
“It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live.” ― J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
Dreaming is great, it is motivating, and it is a plan for what your life would be like in the foreseeable future. However, that’s all that is. A plan. Dreaming of something so hard and so often won’t magically make your dreams turn into a reality.
Dreaming of something so hard and so often won’t magically make your dreams turn into a reality.
It is like wanting to win the lottery without even placing a bet. Merely dreaming and not making a move to make it real will give you no progress of any sort. Stop dreaming for a bit and start doing.
You Are Fulfilling A Wrong Dream
“I don’t know what the key to success is, but the key to failure is trying to please everyone.” ― Bill Cosby
One of the influences in forming a person’s dream of the future is their friends, families or the society. Although our families want what’s best for us, being able to decide a dream for you is not in their hands. It is yours and yours alone.
If you are fulfilling a dream that your family gave you or a dream that the people around you expect you to have, stop it. Unless it also makes you happy and is in line with your interest, stop. Don’t let other people dream for you. They have their own life, and you have yours. Make your dream your own, not theirs.
Until Then, Keep Dreaming
“Anything is possible. Dream! Reach out! Achieve!” ― Lailah Gifty Akita, Pearls of Wisdom: Great mind
Whether you are dreaming big such as becoming a successful entrepreneur or dreaming small and straightforward such as having your very own dream home with a loving family by your side, it is possible and reachable. It just takes some simple small steps for you to get to it. Nothing is impossible. Even the word is encouraging. How so? Impossible is basically saying “I’m Possible.”
There is no such thing as a wrong dream unless it is a dream that you haven’t concocted or your heart isn’t in it. Like I had mentioned, dreams are the reflection of yourself. It is as unique as you, and it changes as you change.
A dream is there to keep us motivated and happy as we deal with the struggle of everyday life. If your dream is starting to become a toxic element in your life, let it go. Sometimes, when push comes to shove, you have to adapt and take drastic measures. Let it go. Find a new dream. Reach for it. Never give up and be happy.
