This Post Grad Life: Dreaming Still Happens When You Aren’t Sleeping

July 13, 2011 2:00 pm     Posted in Reality  Brittany - University of Saint Thomas g+ page

When I was little, I used to grab those big light pink seashells and press them against my right ear. I would close my eyes and hear the soft hums of the ocean. After a few moments, I would look up in the sky and wonder how on EARTH the ocean could fit into one little shell. What forces were allowing one of the biggest things on earth to speak through a pretty oceanic form of calcium??? How DID the ocean DO that??


By Brittany

I wish life was still that simple. Or not simple, whatever.

Now when I listen to a shell, I laugh silently inside – unable to go to the place where I was so long ago. Little, unemployed and…sheltered. After moments of pressing the shell so hard against my ear, it started to itch – I realized I was 23 years old and listening to shells in my little cousin’s bedroom during a wedding shower…

Anyway, I was extremely inspired by my shell discovery. I’ve been getting into a bad habit lately of being unable to go past what I think I’m capable of. Let me explain. When I was in college, I was the shell. Ok, when you stop laughing and snorting snot all over your keyboard, please keep reading.

When I was in college, I looked up into the sky and saw myself doing anything. I would wonder where on earth I was going to end up. HOW would I GET there? Now that I’m “grown up” and employed I laugh silently inside, unable to get to that dreamy and superficial place of wonder. I want to go there again and I want everyone to know that it’s OK to go there.

We graduate. We cry. We say goodbye. We thrash madly to get a job to become successful. We get a job and become successful. And sometimes, we keep wondering. Is this what I’m supposed to be doing right now? Is there room for me to grow? I don’t want to feel shameful when I think these things, or like some kind of fail whale. A little bit of success can make you feel both successful and comfortable with wanting a little more. And we should want more! We should want to grow within a job. We should want to wonder if are exerting all we can to make the job a fabulous experience. It’s good to know that while I don’t want to make myself feel cocky – I want to make it OK to dream and imagine where I want my life going.

Because in a way (don’t hate me, I’m not on drugs) my life is a shell. I used to sit and listen to what that little shell told me. It told me to wonder and dream. I want to sit and listen – and hear something I don’t know everything about.

Juno said it herself, “WOAH, DREAM BIG.” Let the world take you wherever you let it and let it. There should be no apologies for dreaming past success. Life is just too short to marinate in goals and dreams that aren’t completely magical.

Woah. I blame this entire epic post on the fact that I’m watching Extreme Makeover Weight-loss Edition.

One Comment on "This Post Grad Life: Dreaming Still Happens When You Aren’t Sleeping"

  1. MLS says:
    Wed, 13th Jul 20114:17 pm 

    I think this was a great post, but here's something to think about.

    "Ok, when you stop laughing and snorting snot all over your keyboard, please keep reading."

    "don’t hate me, I’m not on drugs"

    "I blame this entire epic post on the fact that I’m watching Extreme Makeover Weight-loss Edition."

    See those statements? You keep apologizing for thinking this way, trying to get people to either convince you that you're right, or trying to convince them that "hey folks, just a joke, really."

    Say it and mean it. Say that you want more out of life, that you want to learn and grow and realize your full potential as a human being. You don't need to apologize for it, or hedge so you can write it off as a silly joke if someone tells you they think you're stupid. (HINT – they would be WRONG.)

    I'm an old person (40+) who realized late in life that I wanted more than a safe, comfortable, reliable existence.You're lucky; you've found this out when you're young and have lots of time to live and learn. And believe me, really living is much better than just existing!!

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