Chasing your dreams is as absurd as winning the lottery these days. I'd love to tell you that I'm one of those cases that had unyielding support in chasing my dream, but that's the thing: It's hard to be a dreamer in 2016.

Everyone seems to love the story of someone chasing their dream when there's glory and popularity that goes along with it. Yet when it actually comes to helping someone's pursuit of their passion, the support seems rather scarce.

This, unfortunately, makes a lot of sense. People have their own ways of living life, and some see more of a value in living a life where one is happier because of the quantity of happy moments they experience. That could mean awards, family, stable jobs, all the fixings of what people perceive is the true meaning of being happy in 2016. As much as I would have loved a job that wouldn't have me drowning in debt for the foreseeable future, I knew that chasing a life where the quality of these moments were significantly lower just so I could live to other people's standards of happiness wasn't for me.

I constantly get asked why I care so much about being a journalist. Or, as many have asked me, why don't I go for something that will make money instead? I understand it, I really do, but that gives no one a right to tell me my dreams aren't worth it.

Every day was a challenge. If it wasn't the hesitance of support from my family, it was the fact that I was constantly brushed off as someone who was taking an easy major. The problem is, society has drilled the value of the math and science fields so much that they lose sight of the beauty of the arts in the world. Journalism, when done correctly, is an art that can improve our lives beyond telling us what celebrities are up to when they go to the supermarket. Just like any art, it takes time, dedication and the right kind of person to do it right.

What in the world is easy about putting hours after hours into various projects to just get some real experience? What kind of life do you constantly put yourself into all your work with the constant danger of someone tearing it apart? What makes it easy to deal with more uncertainty than being blind folded on a roller coaster? We might not have had any technical labs to experience, but there was something insightful and invaluable in the grueling hours spent into editing projects to be the best we want it to be.

If there's anything I've learned in the last few years, chasing my dream was worth it. I didn't do anything for anyone else but me, and I'm pretty happy with where I ended up: Being recognized four times in national competitions and privileged to attend two town halls of democratic candidates, but more than anything, a future at a highly respected university for my master's degree in Journalism.

There were many meltdowns, tears and days spent frustrated beyond belief. It wasn't an easy two years, but honestly, it has been the best two years of my life. If this is only a taste of what the rest of my life could be, I am completely willing to put myself in debt and risk the security of a stable life to just get a chance to keep doing what I love. Someone once said that if you love what you're doing, you never work a day in your life.

I don't agree with that completely. If you truly love what you're doing, the work is worth it. For me, I work hard because I do what I love, and because I do what I love I work hard. There's nothing easy about chasing my dreams. I respect what I do because it's what I want. Unless you're willing to take over my life and live out my responsibilities (especially when it comes to figuring out my taxes or going to the dentist), you have no right to tell me how to live my life.

The world might seem like it cares less for the dreamer, but it just makes it all the more worth it when we succeed. This world needs more passion, don't let anyone strip you from following where yours takes you (unless it's hurting someone else, then perhaps reconsider). Take a chance, be happy with your life. It's 2016, it's hard to be a dreamer, but that doesn't mean giving up. I promise you, chasing your dream can take you places you'd never expect.

At the end of the day, I can go to bed happy because I'm working myself to the bone to do what I love. When I cross the stage and eventually enter the real world, all the awards and recognition won't matter because I'm working towards fulfilling my dream. And for me? That's all I could have ever asked for.