On my 13th birthday, I wished to be the next Diana Vreeland. On my 16th birthday, I wished for a Marc Jacobs purse to be named after me.
On my 18th birthday, I wished for nothing.
Not in the standard angsty teenager sort of way. I wished for nothing, because I made the choice to only make a wish that was realistic. Something that I could make come true on my own.
We live in a very idealistic world, where millennials think they have enough political savvy to run for president after taking one political science course. Where someone with just a little over 1K followers on Instagram thinks that they can become an “influencer” for brands, and get mad when no one takes them seriously or pays them for their time.
Dreams are meant for childhood, not real life. Dreams are ideas that don’t come to fruition. They sit in the back of our heads, every time we are scrolling through an article about a Top Leader In Their Field, and we think to ourselves, “Why can’t that be me?”
Dreams are our safety blankets, because we can always turn to them when life gets too “hard.”
These safety blankets blur reality. They don’t force us to spring into action or pave a path that will make that idea come true.
You want to be a doctor? Great! Go to med school.
But it’s too hard, your brain says. So you don’t go.
Life is not meant to be as simple or easy as swiping right on someone who doesn’t look like a serial killer on Tinder. Life is not full of fairies and unicorns that cheer you on the side of the road, while throwing glitter into your hair, every time you do something right. Life is not a fantasy and neither are your dreams.
For me, making the choice not to dream has pushed me even harder to go for things I want. It might seem selfish, but I’m my own role model. I check in with myself and make sure that I am constantly striving to move forward with my goals.
Getting ish done, as the saying sort of goes, takes hard work and many unsuccessful attempts.
Dreams only hold you back from this.
Reading inspirational quotes won’t land you your dream job, but seeking out that dream job will.
When I tell people this, they always say to me: But, Madeline, I’m not motivated like you!
This is a lie. The thing is, you are motivated, you are just too afraid to kick in that part of your brain. It’s scary to put yourself out there and pursue some wild idea that you envision for yourself.
No matter how many candles you blow out or how many clickbait pieces you read about The 10 Ways To Be Inspired Today, they won’t get you to where you want to be. Candles can’t talk and juicy headlines only make someone else money anyways.
Your own willpower is what you need to get you from here to there.
Before you hate comment on this or angrily tweet about it, ask yourself: What can I do to make *INSERT DREAM HERE* happen?
It’s really that simple.
Since I’ve quit dreaming, I felt more confident about my choices and don’t feel the need to stalk the living ish out of some woman I read about in the New York Times, because I know that will be me one day.
And it will be you one day, too.
