Dreams aren’t concrete, they morph and shift as time goes on, changing the people who have them in the process. I believe in shooting stars. I believe hopes and dreams build people into better versions of themselves.
When I was younger, my elementary school had a career exposition. Almost every career being presented had someone from the field we could talk to. We got to meet everything from baristas to teachers to mathematicians, but not an astronaut. My teacher chalked it up to them being “too busy” or whatever to the few that cared, but none of that was important to me. Seeing the generic galaxy stock photo on the cheap trifold they got instead of an actual astronaut was enough to draw me in. That under funded job fair kicked off my dream of being an astronaut.
It wasn’t a unique dream for a kid, but how much I cared was. I had piles of books, magazines, research papers my mom had to help me read, anything I could get my hands on. Every minute I wasn’t in school – and admittedly a lot in school too – I was learning about what it was to be an astronaut, about space, about the science working behind the scenes to make it work. A lot of it was too hard of a concept for a 7-year-old, but with enough re-reading, I could memorize it and hold on to it until I could understand. It was a crazy amount of dedication for a kid in elementary school, considering I didn’t really fully understand a lot of it.
After about a year and quite a few people telling me it wasn’t possible, I gave up. My dream of being an astronaut had died out, but the habits I got from doing so much research hadn’t. I went from being a somewhat mediocre student to excelling in all of my classes. I could easily keep up with the material, seeing as no assignment was as hard as trying (and failing) to understand nuclear fission. Learning things had become so much easier for me. My unrealistic childhood dream had unintentionally made me a better person, even if I didn’t actually make it come true. Every dream is inherently based on self improvement. That’s why dreams aren’t miracles. Dreams take work and effort and self improvement to achieve.
I’ve had lots of different dreams that are a big part of who I am right now, but I’m not done dreaming. I’m in three AP classes and have a full schedule for my senior year because I hope to go to college; I learned my way around a car because I dreamed of being a mechanic a few years back; I know how to stay focused because I wished I was an astronaut. All of these things are dreams that gave me helpful life skills. It really doesn’t feel like it in the moment, but every dream is an opportunity that can lead to a better version of yourself.
