The beatdown of life.

Typical of any American kid growing up, I had a dream of becoming an astronaut. Dreams of roaring past the clouds, through the atmosphere and into space. Those dreams quietly disappeared over the years as I went through junior high, high school and college. At each stage of my life I've had goals and dreams that had to be adjusted to reflect the reality of life.

As I joined the working world, my dreams and aspirations shifted again to reflect my perception of what I wanted to achieve in the corporate world. But in reality, looking back, those really weren't things that I wanted to do but instead were more things that I thought my parents, family, society and friends would approve of. My dreams weren't really dreams but just steps I felt I needed to take, completely eroding the pie in the sky feeling of having dreams.

One of the main topics today in the LEAD program was the concept of Visions and Dreams, our Ideal Self. Our professor mentioned that the goal of our personal development class is to truly reassess who we are and what are dreams are. 

Up, probably my favorite movie of 2009, was a story about fulfilling that dream you put aside for so many years. Our LEAD professor mentioned it and made me think about my MBA. The MBA for me is becoming a chance to once again reassess my priorities and my wants and needs. Stepping outside of the daily routine and the seemingly predetermined career track I was headed towards has allowed me to rethink who I am and what I want in life. We all know dreams get crushed and who knows, maybe I'll face the same fate. Still, feels nice to be able to have that feeling that anything is possible.  I'm  sure I'll look back on this post a year from now and just shake my head  at the optimism expressed.