I’m with Cinderella. A dream really is a wish your heart makes, and just like she sings to her little animal friends I believe none of us should ever stop dreaming.

I believe that dreams do come true but all in good time. Often testing our patience and making us doubt. More than likely our dreams don’t unfold with that 80’s power ballad playing in the background which does tend to make it somewhat of an anti-climax. Our dream isn’t someone else’s either. Our excitement can be met with mediocrity too. Then age and experience jump on disappointment express and we go forward in life with a sceptical expectation. It never seems to fall within the lines of our picture perfect at all.  Often it happens in the most unexpected way. This life isn’t a fairy tale in fact, far fucking from it.

But deep down what I hope and with fingers crossed what we do see, when we look back, is this unfolding of a beautiful, messy, unexpected story. A gripping, page turner with a hundred unexpected plot twists and surprises. A story that will only ever belong to you. Your very own comprehensive encyclopaedia where the genres are encompassed in a thrilling tale of tragedy, joy, heartache, love, action, comedy and adventure.

 I keep reading that we should dare to dream but our fall from grace happens when, just like reading a good book, we can get lost in our dreams. The details, the extravagance, the blatant unrealistic scene setting that can only be created in our own imaginations. We merely graze over the idea of any bad stuff appearing to rain on our parade. We side line the possibility of any sadness purely in this air of confidence that our strength is so great we will easily navigate the hard stuff that we never actually believe will happen to us. Then it does. Then our ego gets a battering as we witness our dreams crumble before us in real time.

We are not in charge of how our dreams unfold. Be we can still believe.

Of course, you and I know there will be and are moments where we almost touch our dreams and times where they become an actual reality leaving us thirsty for more. Like we can’t actually bloody well believe it! Believing a dream is possible is a gift of optimism we cannot afford to loose heart in. However, while that may be, I am a realist. A half glass empty gal. I see the need for a gentle reminder or a little whisper so we may recognise it’s ok to let the narrative shift through new perspectives as we grow and evolve. We don’t need to dismiss our dreams but simply realise they are not anchored in the past and will naturally mould to our current life. It’s ok that some dreams are merely fleeting too. Maybe we just need to stop assuming they are forever and accept they may slip away. After all Tennyson had it sussed and I personally agree “its better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all”. Some dreams are too much to last a lifetime and if they don’t last it doesn’t make it any less than you dreamt. Don’t let that make you feel foolish for believing in such optimism and ambition. 

Daring to dream requires a certain amount of determination and a lot of hope. Sometimes our dreams feel a million miles away and that’s where they may stay and that’s ok. Dreams are often thought up in moments of joy and excitement. As we get older, we feel the need to back them up with a safety net of reality to cover every outcome. It’s less free for all. This enables us to continue to dream but to also cushion our fall if they don’t come to life. Anyway, I’d like to know who says they actually have to become a reality? There are many chapters of dreaming in our life that stay locked inside ourselves as secrets. The ones that play out past the expiration date of something that never was. Or something that could never be. These types of dreams, belong to the vaulted parts of our minds where only we, the only reader get to play the sliding doors of the different what ifs. 

Every day we get to wake up to write another paragraph of our life. No one knows how it’s going to end and I can’t help but wonder should we all dare to dream despite knowing it may not come true? After all, some dreams may need re-writing but please remember it’s ok to go back to the drawing board. Surely, we can tweak and re- imagine a dream that still burns inside us. After all let’s not forget that Cinderella was given little care, attention and certainly not what she deserved. So even when the chips are down and you find yourself talking to mice perhaps never, ever let the way things work out ruin your heart. It’s where you keep your dreams.