Childhood Dreams

I always dreamt of reaching for the stars.

Earlier this week, I found a photo from 9 years ago—me proudly standing next to a refrigerator box turned spaceship, complete with marker-drawn controller panels and tinfoil windows. It was my first rocket to the stars. Now at 16, alone on the other side of the world, soon entering my senior year, I realized I couldn't even remember the last time I looked up at the night sky.

Those dreams we chased as a child, where did they go?

Why do we let go so easily? Our childhood dream. Becoming an astronaut. Teacher. Firefighter. Actor. A dream of becoming someone who you admired. Those dreams never disappear overnight—they faded slowly, replaced by things more "practical" and more "realistic". Our dreams were packed away with our old toys, gathering dust in the attic of our minds.

We tell ourselves we're growing up. Being mature. Moving forward. But in between countless lab reports and extracurriculars, somewhere along the way, we forgot how to dream. The spark that once lit up our eyes when we were asked "What do you want to be?" dimmed to daunting questions about college majors and career paths.

We lost our north star.

But is that really the best way?

Maybe growing up isn't about letting go of dreams—instead about learning how to dream differently. Not smaller, just… different. Perhaps I won't end up an astronaut, but I'll still reach for my own stars nevertheless. Find something that makes our hearts race just like that cardboard spaceship did.

Let yourself dream again. Not the same dreams maybe, but dreams that are just as big, just as wild. In this one life we have, why spend it following someone else's map?

Find what makes your mind light up. Chase it with everything you've got. Take your dream and reach for the stars, no matter how far away they seem to be.

Those stars we chased never moved—we simply stopped looking up.