리틀팍스

-Utterly Long and Detailed

 Before you start reading this helpful essay full of guides about your dream concerns, I’m going to explain three meanings of ‘dream’. When people normally mention something about dream, there are only three meanings in them.

1. The silly dreams you have in your sleep.

2. Something you want or want to- the same word as goal or purpose.

3. A job you want to be.

The second and third meanings are actually the same, because ‘Something you want’ can be ‘a job’. But sadly, the society can’t distinguish the differences and we must follow this social line if to adjust and survive in this cold world. Anyway, I’m going to talk about the third meaning of dream, so if you were expecting me to talk about complicated causes of sleep dreams, or how to achieve a goal successfully, then you’d better go out and find something more interesting to read. However, I do recommend you read it even though you don’t have any worries about your dream, you might think more about this matter after reading this.

And here is the order I will write the individual parts, so you can find it easily and read the exact one you want to read. Please look below.

1. Finding your dream

2. Having two dreams

3. Athletic dreams

4. Realistic or happy?

5. Ways to achieve

But the last warning- don’t take any words I say into somewhat like formal advises to lead your dream because I’m not an expert or even an adult; I’m just a normal kid trying desperately to achieve my dream. The advantage of this essay isn’t advice, it’s purpose is on sympathizing you as the same status, kid. It feels very distant when an adult tells you something, but it’s totally different if it’s a kid who tells you the very same thing.

1. Finding your dream

Do you have a dream? If you do, then good. But if you don’t, well, don’t worry. Most kids in this Writing Corner are 11, 12 or 13(although some are older than that, sorry for the exception, teens), so you have at least jolly six years to enjoy and search for our dreams (well, not jolly six hours, the last three years or so will be completely horrible). But all adults tell us is these sentences: “Find your own dream.” “Why don’t you have a dream?” “You should find a dream to study better.” and all sorts of stuff. But why do we need a dream?

For the most important reason, as adults declared on their own, you can be motivated to study harder in order to achieve your dream- but most small kids like you don’t need this motivating, but when you’re in high school, motivating is one of the most important things, yes, so this can be a quite reasonable one.

So, what do you need to do to find your own dream? You already know the importance of it after spending years hearing about them, so let’s move on to the usable things, like how to find your dream!

The most important thing is to know what’s you’re nice at. Then, the second important thing is to know as many jobs as you can. It’ll be easy and interesting to choose one job per three days or so, researching and getting to know about the very job you’re assigned to. As you do this, you might realize that a job actually fits your talent, which no one lacks. People think being humble is nice, and it really is, but you also need to know your talent to find a suitable job for your future. Once you find one, you need to plunge into that job deeper, although you shouldn’t completely stop searching for new jobs because many people find their real dreams after they find the first one which they thought was perfect.

And here’s my final word: This isn’t an urge, not at all, but I urge you to find your dream as fast as possible, because if you don’t, adults will pester to study harder to find your dream.

2. Having two dreams

At the previous part, it was mainly for kids without a dream, but this one is totally different- it’s for who have more than one dream, but two, three, or more! Most of these situations are two occasions: choosing your dreams without caution, or honestly eager for both jobs (more than two, that is).

First, if you choose your dreams without caution, that’s a terrible idea. Because it’s no better than having no dream at all, so you should actually need to read the previous part about finding your dream. Finding your real, own dream. Anyway, if you can’t imagine the exact future with the dream you want, for example, if you can’t imagine yourself living as an artist, you should abandon that dream right away. Or more cautiously, if you lack something you must have in order to achieve your dream, then it’s time for you to move on to the previous part, let’s go!

Second, if you’re honestly eager for both jobs, that’s a more complicated matter. Let me talk about my situation. My dream has been a doctor for my entire life (that is, almost entire life, about 7 years, because when I was 5, my dream was a butterfly), but recently I added writer to my dream list, because I’ve been loving reading books for 11 years, and writing for 6 years. So, I guess your situation is the similar with me. As for me, I’m having both jobs. The main job will be the doctor, and if I have any time left, then I’ll write a book. Like this, if you can live with both jobs, then there’s no problem- just busier.

But sometimes you can’t have both jobs at once. There are only two ways I can think of, so please understand even if you don’t approve of both- in that way, you’d better research or call for help on the internet.

The first way is Youtube. As you know (I hope you know) Youtube and other SNS systems are improved very much these days. So, you can actually have the extra job, probably the one you want less or have less confidence in achieving it, in Youtube. For example, if you want to be a music player and scientist, you can open a music Youtube channel while being a scientist. The advantage of this alternative is that you can enjoy both ‘jobs’ at once, although one job done by the Youtube channel might not be very frequent or enough as you wish. But the weakness is that you’ll be super busy and might not be earnest at any of those jobs. But it’s your choice.

If you’re not satisfied with the first option I gave you, well then, you can abandon one. Once you come to this status, you need some standard to abandon one dream- or more. What’s the most important thing in your life? If happiness, then go for the dream that makes you happier. If money, then go for the dream that can earn more money. If helping others, then go for the dream that can contribute more for the society, individuals, and the poor. There can be more standards, and I understand it can be very challenging to abandon the dream you’ve been devoting yourself into, but it’s for yourself, sorry very much. 

 According to what I said before, there are only three ways to solve 'two dreams' problem, but there might be more. No, there has to be more. But I can't think of them right now so you should probably go seeking the school counselor or a reliable adult. Sometimes adults are complete nuisances, but the other times, they are okay to get a simple advice from. 

  3. Athletic dreams

 Is your dream to become an athlete? A soccer player? Basketball? Or maybe volleyball or hockey. Although you might not have an 'athletic dream', as I like to call it, I'm sure at least one of your classmates do. Ask them and prove that I'm right. I'm saying this because a lot of kids have athletic dreams these days.

 According to a research done by Education Department in 2018, the dream job of the most elementary students, is athletes. And most of those athletes are soccer players, so let's see. Suppose 100 kids in one school have athletic dreams. Korea has about 6000 schools, so that's 600000 kids. I don't know much about soccer (actually I don't know anything about soccer), but I do know that there aren't 600000 Korean soccer players all around the world. 

 So, what's the point of this? You might ask. The point is that the chances of actually achieving athletic dreams is quite the same as walking through the Great Wall of China in just ten seconds. Of course, it isn't impossible, only close to impossible. 

 But I'm not trying to discourage you. In our childhoods, it's important to experience, crave for something, and etc. Having an athletic dream is perfectly normal and common, and it's not a bad thing. 

 So, there are two main points in this part, and it's going to be short. 

 1. Accept your weakness and the reality. As I said before, many kids have athletic dreams, but not all of them become real athletes. Which means, you have more percentage to fail at your dream than the percentage to succeed. In this case, you need to abandon your dream someday and look for another one, and it can be heartbreaking. However, one of the most important things in life is to accept things. Accepting your weakness and accepting the reality. Accepting that you're not good enough to become a professional athlete and accepting that there are other things in the world you can be happy about. For this, although you don't need to abandon your dream right now, just try to get used to accepting things. 

 2. Search for new jobs while you have your dream. As I said before over and over again, there is a very slim percentage you really will become an athlete (sorry if that sound mean, but I'm just being realistic!), which means as well as concentrating to achieve your dream now, you should also search for new dreams to have when you have to abandon your dream. For example, if you want to be a soccer player, then it's totally okay you try and practice soccer loads of times- but in the meantime, you should also search for some jobs that suits you. Because when you enter middle school, you could think like 'Oh I guess I can't be a soccer player. I should probably look for new dream'. It's better to think now than then- it might be late!

 4. Realistic or happy

You might already know what I'm about to talk about. I'm going to talk about whatever your dream should be realistic one -one with lots of pay and maybe even cheat, but yes, the one that'll make your status in the society go higher and make people respect you better- or happy one -one that might not pay you well but makes you happy and satisfied. Sometimes, when you are dirty and mature enough, you worry about this path.

Well, it depends on your priorities. If your priority is money and fame and stuff, then you should go to the realistic one. But if you value happiness, fairness or things like that, also said to be 'ideal priorities in school', then you should go to the happy one. 

But it's actually not that simple. You see, sometimes you wouldn't know your priority, or you'd find out that there's no way you can survive with your happy job. Now, I guess you're expecting me to say some advises about this matter, but sorry. All I can say is 'You can do this', because I know that I shouldn't say something reckless and ruin your future or something. 

So, first you should think your priorities, and follow it.

But you know, there are countless jobs that are just neutral. The problem is usually about when you meet a situation like that when you're working. You have plenty of time to think about it, and even more plenty of places to get much better advises then I can ever can with my pathetic brain.

5. Ways to achieve

So far, I only told you how to choose a dream, what to do with something awkward and things like that, a problem anyone could have. But there's also one problem people would face once they come over one steep hill- how will I achieve this dream? To tell you the truth, you can't expect much of advises here, as I'm having the same problems. But I'm sure reading it will be better than not reading it. 

First, you need to think what you need to study to achieve the dream you want. For example, to be a magician, you need to study math, science, and English. And for a writer, they need Korean and basic information about science or history, according to the type of books they write. Like this, you need to study certain subjects harder if you're to achieve certain dreams. So, search what subjects you need to study in order to achieve your dream. That'll help you a lot.

Second, you need to plan it- delicately. Some jobs like doctors, have no way of studying by yourself except for studying (I mean, before you go to college), but magicians and writers can practice magic tricks and writings skills. I'll take policeman for example. In elementary school, you can concentrate on building up your body strength and physical stuff. In middle school, you can study subjects you need to study to become a policeman. Then in high school, you can study more deep and high information. 

Third, try to meet and talk with lots of people who actually have your dream jobs. If you want to be a doctor, then it'll be very meaningful and informative. You can also know the pros and cons of the job, which prospect is hard, what he/she think would have been great if he/she prepared something when they were still students... You can also grow some respects for them- like me. When I was in second or third grade, I went out to meet an accountant because of my homework. I didn't really know much about this job, but after having a long talk with the accountant, I grew some respects for all accountants, even though I wasn't planning to be one.

This is the end of my essay, . It might contain some criticizing aspects, I wish you would know that I am praying for you anywhere, whatever your dream is (or whether you have one, that is). The real important thing to achieve your dream, is to believe in yourself and find the courage to step onto the next stage, even when everyone else criticize you about not being realistic. I firmly believe you can achieve your dream if you try hard enough. So have faith in yourself as I do in you!