Today, I’m writing to you as a friend. You might not
personally know me that much, you might be one of my internet friends whom I
haven’t had the privilege to meet yet, a classmate whom I haven’t talk about
personal stuff, an org-mates, college mates, or just a regular FB friends, but
let me say that I got your back and this is for you.
First, I would like to ask. How are you?
Your ‘I’m fine’ cliché won’t work on me right now. I’m
asking how are you? How fine are you? Or how eff is your life right now?
Stop faking it. You only have yourself to witness our
chitchat so might as well be true to yourself.
Now, how are you?
Did you know why I ask? It’s because I know that not all of
you have had the privilege to be listened to. I know that it’s more bearable to
fake your current state than to share fragments of yourself and be vulnerable.
I know how hard to figure out life and other shenanigans that you are
experiencing.
I know it’s hard.
But now, I want you to stop faking anything. Stop fighting
the pain and struggle and let me take you back to the younger version of
yourself. Even just this once, let me take you back to the old yet younger you.
Do you still remember what you wanted to be when you grow
up? The profession you repeatedly write about on your theme papers every start
of the school year?
As a child we tend to be indecisive about things and if
it’s, by any miracle, happens that you are pursuing the field you dreamt of
taking by your younger self then I’m happy for you… I hope you are happy too.
The problem with people in our society right now is we
eventually stop dreaming. We hope for a better life but we don’t dream bigger
anymore. We tasted too much reality and we settled for what we have in front of
us because risking is too much risk- perhaps it’s the reason why it’s called
risky.
I remember so many people dreaming to be something great! I
know some who wanted to be an astronaut, scientist, doctor, teacher, and so
many more back when we were younger. I know that the one who wanted to be an astronaut took up teaching instead but I don’t have a way of knowing what the
others decided to be right now, some of my classmates during grade school and
high school didn’t even have the chance to finish college despite their earnest
will and desire due to life’s circumstances.
There’s nothing wrong with being realistic and living within
means, I agree with that ideology too. If you need to eat then buy decent
food within your means and don’t go for a diner that costs too much. Be
practical as much as you want, but it doesn’t mean that you can’t hope for a
better life. Being practical is not a
hindrance to our ability to dream.
Scared of risking things? Who’s not, right?
We are so scared that we might waste all of it and we’ll end
up failing. Well, I’m not saying you immediately jump off on a cliff, take a
baby step, just a little step will suffice as long as you keep on moving. If you
feel like giving up then take a rest but keep walking after.
When we were kids our parents told us that bad dreams are
called nightmares and they say that it’ll eventually go away so just don’t mind
them, and perhaps that contributes to the problem.
Nightmares are also dreams, just not the thing we wanted to
be dreaming, same as life can get tricky and hard, not what we wanted, and so
we hope for it to go away like nightmares when in reality nothing can put it
away but you. It’s you who needs to move forward to be able to surpass it. You
need to wake up and let the fear subside until you finally had the courage to
know better.
The way I see it, we are so accustomed believing what our parents
said when they told us it’ll go away, so we wait for it to disappear and it
sucks our happiness and hope the more we wait and let it engulfs us. Nobody
will shake us awake, but we can turn the page the way we wanted if we can only
learn how to dream again.
Remember how our 4-year old self dreamt of that big
house with a swimming pool facing the beach? How we wanted to fly and travel
the whole world.
There’s nothing wrong with knowing your limits but at least
give your mind the power of being limitless even just inside your head.
You might feel the pressure of not being enough and it will
weighs you down, but don’t let it kill your dreams.
Be a dreamer and let’s talk being a doer next time, just
focus on dreaming first.
Don’t be afraid of nightmares, be afraid of being scared of
dreaming.