How to Make a Dream Come True

            I live in a world that may seem very familiar to you. People eat food, they go to sleep at night, they fall in love, and they all die eventually. But there is one key difference between my world and yours: In my world, everybody has a dream. Everybody. Now you may think that doesn’t sound so different after all, but here dreams are not some passing interest or lingering hope out in the distance. Here, dreams are everything. Dreams define who you are. On the night of your 18th birthday, you have a dream. In this dream, you see your future self. If you see yourself as a lawyer, then you’re a lawyer. If you see yourself as an artist, then you’re an artist. No one has ever defied this dream as everyone ends up loving what they see. Today is my 18th birthday and tonight I find out who I will be for the rest of my life.

          Anyone who has known me for more than a few minutes could guess what I want my dream to show. I’d been playing baseball basically since birth and never went a night without throwing a ball around with my parents or friends. I could tell you that baseball is in my blood or how I eat, sleep and breathe baseball, but that makes the sport seem a little too ordinary. It’s something bigger to me. It’s the reason I bother to get out of bed in the morning and when I finish my homework on time at night, it’s so that I can get outside for one last hour of practice. Everything I do has one end goal in mind. It gives my life purpose. Playing in the big leagues is a dream of mine sure, but it’s more than that. If my life were to go any other way, I would never be fulfilled. It’s the only way my life would seem truly worth living.

        As the day progressed, everyone made a big fuss. My parents are proud that their son is about to become a man. My friends tell me that I’m not allowed to forget about them when I make it to the big leagues. My teachers inform me on how important this day is in my progression into adulthood. I doubted anyone had ever met someone whose dream was as obvious as mine. When I get home from school, I almost refuse to eat my cake or open my presents. All I want to do is fall asleep and let my dream begin. The night ends and I put on my lucky glove as I crawl into bed. I take one last look at all the posters and ribbons and trophies that cover my bedroom walls. As I close my eyes and fall asleep, I’m absolutely certain that I will see the dream I’ve been fantasizing about for years and years. My true life was about to begin.

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                When I woke up the next morning, I felt sick. The posters and ribbons and trophies in my room seemed dull and faded. I look at my glove and notice all the cracks and tears in the leather. Everything I had once loved had lost its luster. In my dream, I was in a hospital room performing a complicated surgery. I saved the patient’s life and all of my colleagues applauded my efforts. I was to be a doctor. I was to be a hero.  Then why did I feel as though it was all wrong?

                I was in a daze for the entire day. I told people I was to be a doctor when they asked what my dream had been about. Everyone was a little surprised, but no one shared my displeasure. Being a doctor, after all, is one of the most sought after dreams on the planet. It pretty much guarantees a happy and successful life. I was supposed to feel elated, the happiest I had ever been, but instead I just felt crushed. It wasn’t the life I wanted. It wasn’t the life I had promised myself. That’s when a very strange and dangerous thought crossed my conflicted mind: What if I chose a different path than the one given to me? What if I defied my dream?

         I began practicing in secret, knowing full well that if I was caught pursuing a dream that wasn’t mine, I would be ostracized for it. I was setting a very dangerous precedent by doing what I wanted to do instead of doing what I was supposed to. Everyone talked to me about all the great things I would accomplish as a doctor and I just nodded along. No one could have guessed what I was doing because no one had ever done it before. It was unthinkable; impossible. Those facts only made me practice harder. I wasn’t going to give up just because all odds were against me. When you want something as much as I wanted the big leagues, you don’t really have a choice in the matter.