Reality - noun - Dream's mother
Reality check. Reality bites. Back to reality. This is reality.
Why does reality always seem to have a negative connotation? Many people my age are idealistic, dreamers, believe that things will be better. Whenever I think about the concept of idealism, I either think about Crisostomo Ibarra, Basilio and his schoolmates, or the students of the French revolution as we see in Les Miserables. In other words, idealism is a characteristic of the general youth. People might feel age gaining up on them when they begin to lose that idealism - when they begin to save money for bigger things, thinking ahead of what is possible within their realm of reality. I, myself, have felt this in recent years - actually, in recent months.
When people ask me, "What made you decide that you wanted to become a doctor?" I always respond the same thing. When I was younger - perhaps in any country or in any pre-school, say five years old, and our teachers would ask us what we wanted to be when we grew up, almost every kid would answer either teacher, doctor, lawyer, astronaut, businessman or politician. Through the years, I myself would scrap each label one by one.
For me, astronaut was my first choice because ever since I was a kid, I loved the stars. But when I knew that you'd have to go to NASA (for example since I do not know the other space associations) for that, and that NASA was in America, I thought it was almost impossible since I did not know where NASA was to begin with. Next one was politician - specifically, president. But I saw all the portraits of the Philippine presidents and saw that they were all old...so then I'd have to wait for it. As a child, of course, you'd think of the here and now. So, that crossed it out of the list. Teacher, no, because I couldn't imagine repeating a lecture over and over again to several classes. I guess I was not one to enjoy repetition.
Lawyer, I wanted that a lot. I started watching law shows like "The Practice" and "Ally McBeal", until I was confronted by someone and I couldn't respond. How could I be a lawyer if I couldn't defend myself, right? Since grade school, I believed that I was always good in Math. I still was in high school, in general, but I never got into the being a businessman thing. So, what did that leave? Doctor!
Yes, that doesn't seem like the best way as to how you would make your career choice, but since I decided, it seemed as if that was what I wanted to do, what I was born to do. I was not meant for art. My first and last masterpiece was a drawing of Jollibee...well, unless you would consider my oh-so-typical landscape art. I was born for no visual creativity whatsoever. Writing was another thing, but my parents slammed it down because of course, hobby did not mean career. They always said, "If you want to write, you can do it on the sideline. Two jobs for one degree!" Sold!
I do not know how I came to want Psychology as my pre-medical course. It faced a lot of "thumbs-down" from my family - especially since I was accepted into BS Human Biology in La Salle which would cut my academic stay by two years, but let's face it. As much as I may love science - as I discovered only recently actually - I loved trying to understand people and myself even more. Was that the best choice? Probably not. Will I be happier? I believe so.
Most of my blockmates who originally aimed to take medicine have backed out. It made me think that "Do I really want to be a doctor?" I had a back-up plan, but that entailed moving to the States, which I knew I'd do either way. Sometimes though, I wonder if I should have thought about my happiness first, or what would properly get me to med school. People are pointing me out to different directions, different alternatives, different lives, and suddenly, the one path you believed you'd take ever since you were a kid becomes nothing more than just another direction, alternative...just another possible life.
Suddenly everything is moving too fast and you have to think about not being a kid anymore. I'm growing up. No more seeing things through rose-colored glasses, or thinking that growing up is a lifetime away. It's real.
Reality is nothing more than Dream's mother.
I have been cranky lately because of all the pressure placed on my shoulders. My mom might be thinking already that I don't care about my future - that I don't even want to finish college and that's why I already want to work, but of course not! I want to finish college. I just feel myself becoming a grown-up...that the dreams I've had as a child are becoming a reality, and it's scary.
I tend to look at growing up as an inevitability, something you will have to go through eventually - and no, we are not talking about the growing-up and growing old quotation - because the responsibility of family is a load everyone must carry. I do not like seeing kids trying to grow up so fast. There are those from my old school who could be mistaken for a working person already, and they're at least two years younger than I. Why they choose to grow up so quickly, they will regret it sooner rather than later.
Now, what do I mean then when I say that "Reality is nothing more than Dream's mother"? Yes, I feel the pressure from my mom, and she makes me think of the future and what I'm going to do about it. Think of it as I'm the dreamer, and that she is Reality. Her role is to make the dreams I could make come true, and not merely be the spectator, watching my dreams float away. Her role is to find out what the next best thing is if my top dream will not come true *knock on wood*.
I love my mom. Even after writing this, I'm not looking forward to facing reality, but it's the reality created and formed by a real dream that makes it all worthwhile.
Why does reality always seem to have a negative connotation? Many people my age are idealistic, dreamers, believe that things will be better. Whenever I think about the concept of idealism, I either think about Crisostomo Ibarra, Basilio and his schoolmates, or the students of the French revolution as we see in Les Miserables. In other words, idealism is a characteristic of the general youth. People might feel age gaining up on them when they begin to lose that idealism - when they begin to save money for bigger things, thinking ahead of what is possible within their realm of reality. I, myself, have felt this in recent years - actually, in recent months.
When people ask me, "What made you decide that you wanted to become a doctor?" I always respond the same thing. When I was younger - perhaps in any country or in any pre-school, say five years old, and our teachers would ask us what we wanted to be when we grew up, almost every kid would answer either teacher, doctor, lawyer, astronaut, businessman or politician. Through the years, I myself would scrap each label one by one.
For me, astronaut was my first choice because ever since I was a kid, I loved the stars. But when I knew that you'd have to go to NASA (for example since I do not know the other space associations) for that, and that NASA was in America, I thought it was almost impossible since I did not know where NASA was to begin with. Next one was politician - specifically, president. But I saw all the portraits of the Philippine presidents and saw that they were all old...so then I'd have to wait for it. As a child, of course, you'd think of the here and now. So, that crossed it out of the list. Teacher, no, because I couldn't imagine repeating a lecture over and over again to several classes. I guess I was not one to enjoy repetition.
Lawyer, I wanted that a lot. I started watching law shows like "The Practice" and "Ally McBeal", until I was confronted by someone and I couldn't respond. How could I be a lawyer if I couldn't defend myself, right? Since grade school, I believed that I was always good in Math. I still was in high school, in general, but I never got into the being a businessman thing. So, what did that leave? Doctor!
Yes, that doesn't seem like the best way as to how you would make your career choice, but since I decided, it seemed as if that was what I wanted to do, what I was born to do. I was not meant for art. My first and last masterpiece was a drawing of Jollibee...well, unless you would consider my oh-so-typical landscape art. I was born for no visual creativity whatsoever. Writing was another thing, but my parents slammed it down because of course, hobby did not mean career. They always said, "If you want to write, you can do it on the sideline. Two jobs for one degree!" Sold!
I do not know how I came to want Psychology as my pre-medical course. It faced a lot of "thumbs-down" from my family - especially since I was accepted into BS Human Biology in La Salle which would cut my academic stay by two years, but let's face it. As much as I may love science - as I discovered only recently actually - I loved trying to understand people and myself even more. Was that the best choice? Probably not. Will I be happier? I believe so.
Most of my blockmates who originally aimed to take medicine have backed out. It made me think that "Do I really want to be a doctor?" I had a back-up plan, but that entailed moving to the States, which I knew I'd do either way. Sometimes though, I wonder if I should have thought about my happiness first, or what would properly get me to med school. People are pointing me out to different directions, different alternatives, different lives, and suddenly, the one path you believed you'd take ever since you were a kid becomes nothing more than just another direction, alternative...just another possible life.
Suddenly everything is moving too fast and you have to think about not being a kid anymore. I'm growing up. No more seeing things through rose-colored glasses, or thinking that growing up is a lifetime away. It's real.
Reality is nothing more than Dream's mother.
I have been cranky lately because of all the pressure placed on my shoulders. My mom might be thinking already that I don't care about my future - that I don't even want to finish college and that's why I already want to work, but of course not! I want to finish college. I just feel myself becoming a grown-up...that the dreams I've had as a child are becoming a reality, and it's scary.
I tend to look at growing up as an inevitability, something you will have to go through eventually - and no, we are not talking about the growing-up and growing old quotation - because the responsibility of family is a load everyone must carry. I do not like seeing kids trying to grow up so fast. There are those from my old school who could be mistaken for a working person already, and they're at least two years younger than I. Why they choose to grow up so quickly, they will regret it sooner rather than later.
Now, what do I mean then when I say that "Reality is nothing more than Dream's mother"? Yes, I feel the pressure from my mom, and she makes me think of the future and what I'm going to do about it. Think of it as I'm the dreamer, and that she is Reality. Her role is to make the dreams I could make come true, and not merely be the spectator, watching my dreams float away. Her role is to find out what the next best thing is if my top dream will not come true *knock on wood*.
I love my mom. Even after writing this, I'm not looking forward to facing reality, but it's the reality created and formed by a real dream that makes it all worthwhile.