Letting Go Of Your Childhood Dreams Doesn’t Make You A Failure: It Just Gives You The Freedom To Embark On A New Path
I’ve always felt inspired when I hear people achieve something and mention that it was their childhood dream. For instance, when up-and-coming actors host Saturday Night Live and say in their opening monologue that they had dreamed of being on that stage since they were little.
We often put a lot of pressure on ourselves to achieve the things we’ve wanted since we were little, as being able to say that gives us a lot of credit and a huge ego boost. I mean, who wouldn’t want to achieve their childhood dream?
There’s also a lot of pressure from others to keep going after our childhood dreams. Parents are big culprits, as are other older friends or relatives.
But here’s the thing – sometimes, our childhood dreams are a little too hard to achieve, and as we get older, we realize just how difficult it would be to make them happen.
As sad as it may sound, the moment you realize you can let go of some of your childhood hopes and dreams, the more forgiveness and freedom you give yourself. A lot of people beat themselves up for not achieving what they wanted when they were kids and hold onto childhood dreams because they label themselves as “failures” if they can’t make them happen.
However, the thing with childhood hopes and dreams is that we had them when we were quite naive. As sweet as that is, it’s important to acknowledge that we didn’t know anything about the real world as kids.
Perhaps you’ve spent years trying your hardest to achieve something you’ve wanted since you were little, like a certain job, home, or relationship, and realized as you got older that you don’t really want to go through with it anymore. You can go down a different path and let go of an old dream.
Now, if you still want something you wanted as a kid but realize it might take you longer to get it or you don’t have the means for it, you can simply adjust your dream.
For instance, I always dreamed of being on Broadway as a kid, and as much as I love performing and would love to do that one day, I realized right after graduation I didn’t have the means to drop everything and dedicate all my time to auditions.
Med Photo Studio – stock.adobe.com – illustrative purposes only, not the actual person
However, while working a full-time job, I still audition for smaller acting projects whenever possible and know that one day, when I have more stability, I will dedicate more time to auditioning.
I try to forgive myself as often as possible regarding this scenario because while I don’t want to ‘give up’ on a childhood dream, I know I need to make a living and give my other passions an equal chance.
Childhood dreams don’t have to focus on a dream career too. For instance, maybe when you were a little girl, you dreamed you’d find a ‘perfect husband.’ I‘m talking about a man who treats you like a princess every day, always communicates, never talks back, is always helpful, and hardly has any flaws.
But then, you grew up and realized men are not perfect, and neither are we. Unfortunately, the ‘perfect’ partner doesn’t exist. So maybe you need to let that dream go or adjust it to be more in touch with the real world.
Adjusting and letting go of some of your childhood dreams does not make you a failure; it makes you a survivor.
Celebrate all of your victories, big and small, and find little ways to please your childhood self. You’ve got this!
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