Please note that this is an Archived article and may contain content that is out of date. The use of she/her/hers pronouns in some articles is not intended to be exclusionary. Eating disorders can affect people of all genders, ages, races, religions, ethnicities, sexual orientations, body shapes, and weights.

By Quinn Nystrom

We all have dreams that may seem a bit unattainable.

But we hang on to them anyway. We might not “go public” about these dreams, but they are alive and well and residing in a hypothetical “Wish File” that we like to mentally crack open and peek at on occasion.

Some people want to be an astronaut and some people want to raise alpacas. Some people want to be self-employed while others dream of working for a Fortune 500 company. But I will bet all of those same people are afraid to speak those dreams out loud if asked at a social gathering.

We let a fear of failure prevent us from speaking about our dreams and even let the fear of being judged prevent us from acknowledging them to others. We let ourselves feel silly when admitting to our ambitions because we know there’s a slim chance of them ever becoming real.

Or is there?

The reality is that there is no right or wrong way to dream because these are your precious aspirations in life. Being afraid to verbalize these goals is a stumbling block that shuts many a dreamer down and dissuades them from ever moving forward. The reality is that it is actually possible to achieve the things you want to achieve.

But here’s the rub; it takes hard work.

Do you want to sing on a professional stage or audition for American’s Got Talent? The first step is to practice every day, take lessons and study others doing the work you aspire to do. Then, you need to start singing and performing and even recording, uploading and publishing your music on YouTube.

Then repeat. A lot.

Want to be a novelist? You can be! Now, more than ever, it is possible to write and publish a book thanks to self-publishing sites and tools. But, as I’ve mentioned before, writing a book is one thing, writing a good book takes time, research and most of all patience. You will need to spend many hours a day writing and honing your craft. You need to find the courage to share your story with others and deal with the criticism that sometimes comes with the territory.

Then repeat. A lot.

My point is that it’s actually do-able to become the thing you want to be. Getting to the point where you’re a professional is harder. Much harder, but oh-so-worth it. You can be anything you want to be, but just remember that we humans don’t roll out of bed in the morning automatically proficient at what it is we long to do.

Being good at a skill, hobby or career comes with time.

“You need to have faith in yourself. Be brave and take risks. You don’t have to have it all figured out to move forward.”― Roy T. Bennett