Success and Dreams

Everyone has dreams, aspirations, things they want to do, things they want to see, places they want to go. Dreams are good. They drive us to be better and do greater things. But what do you do when you achieve your dream? When the thing you have been working towards for years is finally yours? The thing that was always at the back of your mind, waiting for a gap in your thoughts to explode through into your brain. The thing you have spent countless hours researching, thinking about, freaking out about, and hoping for. What do you do when you realize that your dreams have become your reality? This is a question I now face. Last week, I received my Appointment to the United States Naval Academy. This one paper was the end result of years of work and focus. Now that I'm in, I feel a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders, as cliched as that is. Although this sense of relief and safety is comforting, it also reminds me that for me to continue to better myself, I need to develop new dreams. These could be as big as becoming a SEAL or graduating the Academy, or as small as being able to top 100 push ups in the PRT, or running a half marathon in a competitive time. I think people will always need dreams, because as soon as we stop dreaming, we stop pushing ourselves. And if you aren't pushing yourself to be the best "you" you can be, when you've become perfectly content with yourself, that is when you stop really living.