Wow — thank you for formulating such a thoughtful and detailed response!

I do think that the idea of the Dream as it’s formulated here is an internal, self-driven phenomenon, and, as you imply, cooler heads than mine have learned much earlier how to balance it and keep it from devouring them. But one of the reasons I wanted to write this piece is that our clickbait culture is full of platitudes exhorting us to follow our dreams at all cost, and I believe that it’s useful to speak out about the prickly underside of this kind of memeified motivation. As you point out, it’s not only the aftermath but the genesis of this variety of dreaming that’s driven by a lot of capitalist assumptions.

I do think part of it is in the difference between dreams and goals. Dreams are ephemeral and intangible — you can’t capture them in a bottle. Goals are something you can actually accomplish and strategize towards, which is a distinction you seem to have a very realistic view about — if this piece (and this conversation) helps other people see the difference and check their own excesses before they get overwhelmed, then I’m certainly happy.

Anyway, in the end, the essay is mostly about my own thick head, so all of your points are well-taken — thank you again for taking the time to articulate them, and cheers to you too!