Dreams, all of us have them, as children many of us dreamt of being astronauts or neurologist, teachers, police officers, firemen, actors, and ballerinas. As life went on some left behind their childhood dreams as only nature has it that our interest change over the years. The young naivee dreaming days of being a ballerina were disregarded along with the dance classes that loss their excitement after the first day. We soon realized that achieving a goal or making dreams a reality was much harder than our young six year-old minds could imagine, and in a matter of moments the ballerina days were over, taken over by fresh ripe dreams of being a famous and ostentatious actress in the infamous Hollywood. Our footprints along side the most famous and talented actors that the world has ever seen. When we are young, the world is ours; we are invincible to the daily responsibilities we would soon face as we aged. We dreamt without fear. The world was ours, to take in our small soft young hands, and the constant reminders from our parents; “you can be whatever you want to be”. Eight words strung together, words of empowerment that always remain in the back of our minds as we age from young naive children to blossoming adolescences, until we mature into the adults we were destined to be.

“Dream without fear” is the best piece of advice that I have ever received and surprisingly it did not come from the wise lips of a dear relative nor the fortune cookies from the Chinese restaurant in town, no, these inspiring words are wrapped around in a circle printed on a white rubber bracelet in big, bold, black letters worn around my wrist. A constant reminder of my naivee childhood days when the world was one block wide and when the stars weren’t light years away. The world held in our palms, where anything and everything was possible. It was not until two weeks ago when I realized the true meaning behind the phrase printed on the bracelet that I wore religiously and still wear on my wrist. For days I stared at the big block writing on my bracelet and merely passed it off, buying the bracelet for the design and not truly paying attention to the message on my arm. So what does it mean to dream without fear? Well that is quite simple, to try to achieve a dream without fearing the outcome. Unfortunately, similar to many situations in life, advice is easier said than done.

As we age life complicates, responsibilities grow, stress levels skyrocket and we find ourselves spending sleepless nights thinking of the future trying to figure what our dream in life is. Sadly, for many us, our dreams seem nearly impossible to make reality, the more we understand our circumstance and the obstacles we may have to battle on our way to our destiny, the more we loose focus on our heart’s desires and focus on the fears that slowly creep their way into our minds, taking over our brain completely, constantly reminding us that there is a chance that we may fall face first on our quest to accomplish our goals. Fear is the slayer of dreams, a powerful omen, set out to prevent our fantasies from coming true. Alas some of us let our fears win, and we go on to lead despondent and dejected lives full of disenchantment for not overcoming our fear of fear and living just to live. We ponder on excuses to assuage the regret building in our hearts, trying to soften the blow that our one opportunity was wasted.

I, too, was always living in fear that if I endeavored to do anything fulfilling or tried to achieve a goal, that I would fail horribly and that the invariable feeling of being defeated would linger everywhere and was petrified of that feeling, so instead I quit before I gave it a try. Verifying my decisions to stop while I was ahead any way I could but little did I know that the feeling of regret cuts deeper than the feeling of failing. You see if you don’t succeed you can always try again, but when you loose hope too early and don’t try you have to live with the regret that follows you everywhere you go like a dark black cloud hovering above your head, constantly reminding you that if you had taken that risk, put all your feeling aside and just went for it, you would be in a different position. Instead of working that nine to five job you hate you could be waking up in the morning with a smile carved deep in your face, the feeling of accomplishment radiating from you, the realization that risk are worth taking printed on your forehead when you are working your dream job. Yet many of us see only what we want to see and close the eyes to what we dream of.

It is understandable why the trepidation of not achieving your goal is so overpowering and can persuade us to take the easier road in life, to go with what is safe instead of what we truly desire. “ Two roads diverged in a wood and I- I, took the one less traveled by and that made all the difference” (Frost, 18-20) are the last line in Robert Frost’s inspiring 1920’s poem The Road Not Taken. He overcame the fear of the unknown and took the road less traveled by and his life was forever changed. He demolished the fear of fear for the sake of his happiness. Something not many of us can do. The thing we fear the most is a two-letter word packed with power, and that is the word no. I believe that rejection is what we fear most when trying to achieve our dreams. No one likes rejection whether it’s from the university of your dreams or when it escapes the lips from your crush. Rejection hurts and we conclude that it is better to never know what could be then feel rejection. I was scared of rejection and therefore never applied my self to attempt to achieve my dreams whether they may have been large dreams or small ones, but I have learned the hard way that we can not let fear of rejection or failure get the best of us. Is it truly better to live with regret for the entirety of your life or feel the sting for a while before taking in everything you have learned from your decision and moving on?

The answer will vary on the reader but to me it is very simple, living with regret is the worst thing you can do. Some people are born with the self-confidence to overlook small mishaps and continue while the rest of us have to build the faith in ourselves to get to that level, but it is not impossible. Who says that your dreams have to be left behind with childhood because to others they are impractical or impossible to achieve? Who says that the world can’t be one block wide again where the stars are nothing but a few feet away? Who says that life has to be so complicated? Only cynics who do not take risks and do believe in faith, but risk can be so rewarding and are undeniably worth taking. Who would have known that a seven-dollar bracelet from Hot Topic would inspire me to change my view on the world before it was too late? I sure did not.