You're taught from a very young age to chase your dreams. Suddenly, as the time quickly approaches from when you first said you wanted to be an astronaut at the age of eight to setting your decision in stone at the age of eighteen, everything has changed.
You have had the same cliche advice pounded into your head for eighteen years and now it's time for you to make a final decision on what you want to do for the rest of your life. But you must be careful because if your decision seems too far fetched, it is instantly shot down. So basically what we should have been taught our whole lives is to dream a dream that is realistic. A dream that can be achieved through successful completion of college and an instantaneous, well-paying job shortly after. If that isn't the dream you're dreaming, you're doing it all wrong.
You may be lucky enough to have parents, siblings, grandparents, aunt, uncles, or even cousins that believe you can be the next back to back Stanley Cup champion like Sidney Crosby or the next Derek Sheppard brain surgeon. However, not many adults believe a millennial when they say they are different and that they will stand out and make their dreams come true. Because let's be real here, not everyone can be famous and not everyone can be the next president of the United States. But someone has to play those roles.
So why can't the next superstar be you or me or little Jimmy from down the street? Why must we all have a "backup plan?" Why can't we have the support we need to go out there and put our hearts, minds, and souls into everything it takes to reach our dreams? If our dreams are spontaneous and work driven, then that must mean we will need to put everything we have into getting our end result. If the people I am trying to make the proudest don't have my back and aren't there to motivate me and keep me on track when I become impatient, frustrated, or feel like giving up, then my chances of reaching my dream are not even bearable.
I consider it a blessing to know what I want to do for the rest of my life at the uneasy age of eighteen. There are so many teenagers out there that do not have a clue as to what they want to do. I won't let this special gift of knowing who I want to be to go to waste. What is the difference between a teenager who wants to go to college to be a nurse and a teenager who wants to go to college to be a famous actor or actress? Both of those teenagers are capable of reaching those goals and neither of them will become employed unless they are top of the line so basically, they have the same chances of accomplishing their goals. If the willpower is there, anything is possible.
I am tired of hearing that I need a backup plan "just in case." Or that there is no way I will be the next Erin Andrews. My biggest dream from here on out becomes proving everyone around me wrong. Because I know for a fact I can make my dreams come true. Because what the people around me don't understand is that I do not have a backup plan simply because I feel I don't need one.
This is all I want in life and I cannot see myself doing anything else or being happy while doing anything else. It's not about the money, it's about the lifestyle I want to live. It's about waking up and going to work without having to dread it on the drive in. It's about proving to the people around me that I may be itty bitty, but I promise you I can change the world.