Are Dreams Unrealistic?

Since I was little I have always been asked the question "what do you want to be when you're older?" and I have never hesitated when answering. Even though my dream career has changed a lot over the years, I have always been proud of what I wanted to be and it was always different to what my friends chose. When we were first asked the question by our Teachers, most of my friends would say  they wanted to be Teachers or Ballerinas etc... Me? I wanted to be a Hairdresser! I don't know one person that shared this aspiration of mine to become a Hairdresser, and maybe that was the appeal for me. 

Fast forward to my early teenage years, I would again be asked "what do you want to be when you're older?". My answer: an actress. At first it was an actress in movies, but then I started to love the idea of becoming an actress that performs on stage and in musicals. I would still love to do this, only problem is that I probably can't sing and I am very shy when it comes to performing. So that dream ended quickly. In my mid-teens I wasn't entirely sure what I wanted to do, I liked the idea of helping people but all I was sure of was that I wanted to go to a University that looked like a big country home or a scene from Harry Potter! I would pick the perfect University and then see what subjects they had to offer. 

However, towards the end of my School years and into College, I decided that I really didn't want to go to University anymore. For a number of different reasons, but definitely more pros than cons. I was adamant that I didn't want to go. At this point I now wanted to work with children, but I didn't know what specific area of childcare I wanted to be in. After that I started thinking about working in Media because I loved the subject at College, and then I thought about becoming a Reader for a Publishing House (until I realised that required a degree). 

Until one day I'd had enough. I sat myself down with my thoughts and a notebook to finally decide what I wanted to do with my life. I just couldn't understand, why can't I pick one thing? I wrote a list (which then turned into mind-maps) of different things I'd love to do as a career. 

..............

So this brings me to today. For almost a year now I have been delighted and at ease after realising that actually, I wanted to become a Teacher, or at least a Teaching Assistant. Yes, it is a very delayed goal (when I had 5 year old friends that knew they wanted to do this), and it had taken me longer to realise that it is what I wanted to do. But now that I have decided, I feel so much happier but also glad that I gave myself the time to figure out what my dream career was.

In relation to dreams though,  I'd also love to be a writer. I guess in a way having my own website like this makes me a writer, but I'd love to be able to meet new people and tell them that I am a writer or better yet, an author. Which leads me to the point of this whole story time. Now we aren't children, are dreams unrealistic? 

Children are encouraged to have dreams. If they want to be an astronaut that can fly to Mars on a fire-breathing dragon then they should do that. But as an adult, having crazy dreams aren't always something we share. Should we still try to achieve our dreams or is it unrealistic? Why do I feel so passionate about my dream career, yet am so shy to share it with others when I'm greeted with that question "what do you want to be?".

Some people go to University to get into their dream job. Others can go for an interview and be accepted for their dream job without the qualifications. I should embrace that ambition and not be afraid to tell people about my dreams.