Broken Dreams

Normalising not achieving everything I wished for before turning 23.

Ever since I turned 23, I’ve been thinking a lot about broken dreams. 18-year-old me had a mental list of things she wanted to experience and achieve before turning 23. 5 years later, I am entirely different from the version I thought I’d be at this age.

My broken dreams comprise of:

1. Experience at least one international trip in the last 5 years. But my dependency on friends and family (special mention to the two years that FLEW by in Covid) was a roadblock.   

2. Experience living alone for a while. 

3. Build a large community of readers for my blog. 

(Thank You for being a part of this small community. :) )

But, a slight shift in perspective made me realise that these broken dreams do not mean the end of the world. This list is just a representation of how I chained myself with rigid timelines because I used to believe that “achieving everything under a set timeline is what success is.” 

I’m sure that all of us pressurise ourselves with timelines for achieving our goals, which often drain us mentally. This week, I want to remind you that it’s okay to let life happen sometimes and adjust your path based on the circumstances. While it’s disheartening to not see your plans taking shape, there’s so much more you have achieved that you didn’t even know you were capable of achieving. 

You are not behind if you haven’t achieved X number of things within an anticipated timeframe. I encourage you to let go of the pressure to have everything figured out right this second and the need to control things that are often out of your control. 

A little bit of perspective shift and these broken dreams will not be broken anymore. Instead, they’ll be a work in progress.

See you next week!

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