Dare to Give Up on Your Dreams

This is the essay I wrote for my reaction report assignment in communication class. 
                     

Dare to Give Up on Your Dreams

Augusten Burroughs, the writer of the best selling book Running With Scissors wrote an article for Psychology Today about ditching the dreams. In some cases, dreams are not worth keeping; we need to let them go and move to other goals. Burroughs said, “they are not like spleens. There is not just one per person.” He tried to persuade us to have a self-knowledge; the ability we need to measure the possibility to reach our dreams. As he stated, “It is not true that you can do whatever you set your mind to. It is a lie that with hard work and perseverance, you can achieve anything.” Isn’t it provoking? I say yes.

Burroughs set a dream to be an actor since he was kid, but then realized that he was not into that. What he actually wanted was to reach people but to be an actor was not the right vehicle to drive him there; then he changed his vehicle in the form of writing, and he became a writer.

I personally agree to Burroughs’ idea on ditching the dreams.  We should look deeper to  understand what we want and what we can do. The case of ditching a dream is not a new concept, at least in my life. I believe that some cases in my life have been through the process of ditching wishes and finding a new one. It simply can be found in a very basic case, like changing the way I dress up because I look fat in certain clothes or in a bigger case like enjoying my new college, since I didn’t get into my dream college. I do believe everybody goes into similar experiences as mentioned above.

However, ditching a dream is a big case; it takes time to fully understand that you should let go of something you have been keeping for a long time for something new. This is a time to rely on self-knowledge, implementing the four steps of thinking process; selecting, organizing, interpreting, and negotiating to see the truth and move the bow to a better direction.

Source: Burroughs, Augusten. “How to Ditch a Dream.” Psychology Today June 2012: 28-30. Print.

photograph by Yoga Putra