Some dreams are pleasant distractions, the kind of dreams that are fun to think about but no one really expects to happen. These are the lists of things people will do if they win the lottery jackpot. Oh! The places one would go! The houses they would build! These dreams twist our lips into wry smiles and draw from our lungs wistful sighs. Though we might pine for a life unknown, these dreams are mere fun little diversions.
Some dreams, however, consume you. They plague your sleep and your wakeful moments. They consume your thoughts, even when you should be thinking of something else. These dreams, if left alone, drag you to unfathomable depths, twisting you into something small and sad and barely human. Some dreams cannot be ignored. They are not light dreams eliciting wry smiles and soft sighs.
These dreams are ravening monsters, with sharp claws that dig in and won't let go and every day spent ignoring them crushes the soul ever so slightly. These dreams leave you no choice but to pursue.
And these dreams are cruel. They may forever prove beyond reach, a coy promise chased forever until you drop dead of exhaustion or frustration or despair, and when you rise again, you are smaller, your light is gone, and you hiss bitterly into the world. And still, until you are utterly broken, you cannot help but chase these dreams; these impossible, cruel dreams.
Sometimes, with the right combination of persistence and sheer, dumb luck, these dreams come true. That is their double-edge. These dreams, unlike the fairy tales or wistful what-ifs, can come true. The siren's lure. Some people cannot take the risk. Some people take the risk, but falter fast. Some people spend all their lives at the chase, and never seen it bear fruit. Here is a secret those dreams rarely whisper in your eager ear:
Dreams are hard. They hurt. You will fail.
But, if you get back up. If you resume the chase. If you try again, and again, and again, your dreams may just come true.
May. Perhaps. If you work hard enough.
And if you are lucky.
It won't be easy. It will take work. It will take courage and persistence and heart. And let's not forget luck. And even after all that, they may never come true.
But it can be done.
And so you must try.