Dreams change and that's okay

Exactly a year ago, I walked into my counsellor's office, well aware that I was late. I didn't know my counsellor and she didn't know me, but I went anyway: "I want to go to MIT". Little did I know what it takes.

As a probably experienced individual in her career, she asked me to start listing my extracurriculars, grades and goals. I started with my grades, the only thing that I had at hand—and she shook her head. She stared into my soul and said no. Like the bigger person I thought I wanted to be, I replied with a "what like it's hard?" Then a brief roast session took place, and we finally settled on some goals for the year that maybe wouldn't get me into MIT, but somewhere nice and probably better.

This goal of mine stayed hot for a minute. I'm really grateful that it was a goal, as it helped me achieve things I may not have otherwise, and helped me get on track for the first time in my life. Obviously, grade 11 is the time when you start exploring your options and aspirations, and I'm really cool with where I am now. Soon after, this MIT dream took me to the Harvard Summer School application page. I got accepted, and then came the fun part where I got to join and participate. But I called off the whole deal.

That is when I realised my goals had changed. I didn't want to go to MIT. I didn't—couldn't finish that hefty one year plan my counsellor and I had discussed. I had better plans now. I had distractions I wanted to enjoy. After all, getting into MIT isn't even realistic and healthy.

You see, calling off big dreams is only concerning when you don't turn them into some other, better goals. The MIT dream was, in reality, a kick-start for some things I got to do. I learnt the whole Ivy League process, the extracurriculars and big volunteer programs. If not for dreaming something ambitious like that, I wouldn't be working on smaller projects. I wouldn't even have thought about them otherwise—attending programs, this blogging thing and motivation for better grades and just motivation in general. You don’t always need to arrive at a dream to be transformed by it. If your dreams change, it may be for the better. Instead of getting demotivated by such events, we should always add more and restart somewhere bigger. If our goals are as big as impossible, they're only somewhere close to reality.

If your dream is to buy a sports car, and you’re obviously nowhere near that yet, maybe just imagining it is enough to get you moving. Along the way, you might realise you actually like the idea of something else more or another goal becomes more realistic. The nice part? You’ll already be on track for the next step, which is why there’s no need to be afraid of “losing” your goals.