Keep on dreamin' even if it breaks your heart

I've spent the last month swept up in daydreams about things I want to do, places I want to see, and the person I'd like to become. I've redone my course of study planner so many times that the sticky notes lost their stick and the creases of the paper are wearing thin. I've literally lost sleep because I've been so concerned about how I'm going to fit everything into my life. I had this preconceived notion that all fun stops once I begin my career, but I've realized that I'll still have vacation time and opportunities to go explore as much as I want to. And if I find the job I really want, work will be an adventure too. As of tonight, the plan is to go for a double major in ISE and French, take classes first summer session next summer, get an internship after junior year, and bike across the country after senior year before leaping into the workforce (www.4kforcancer.org). Somewhere in here I'd like to squeeze in backpacking at least virginia's part of the Appalachian trail (next summer?) and running a half marathon. I'd also eventually love to do the ironman in Nice.

The weird thing is, while I'm sitting here losing sleep because I'm so excited and terrified about the future, some of my peers are settling for an ordinary life. Throughout high school we all had prescribed goals to reach and honors to attain. Now that we're in college or working, it's up to us to set our own goals and instill that sense of competition within ourselves and a lot of people aren't capable of really pushing themselves to greatness. It breaks my heart to see some of my friends accepting life the way it is and fading into mediocrity instead of stretching beyond their comfort zones. I found a really great quote from Ellen Johnson Sirleaf: "The size of your dreams must always exceed your current capacity to achieve them. If your dreams do not scare you, they are not big enough." If I could, I'd spread that mantra to the world and give everyone that touch of wanderlust and thirst for spontaneity that make life so much fun. Do not settle. Be afraid but do it anyway. Mind your own business, and be interesting enough that other people mind it as well. Don't follow your dreams; chase them.