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Your Dreams are Supposed to Die
But they can be reborn as something new.
What do you do when your dreams fall apart? There comes a point when you’re finally forced to admit things aren’t going to work out, and you have to make the painful decision. Do you keep pretending the life you hoped for is still a legitimate possibility? Or, do you face the consequences of letting go of your hopes and expectations?
Grieving the loss of a dream can cause as much pain as grieving the loss of a loved one. Your dreams are part of you. They’re intertwined with your identity in ways that are difficult to comprehend. To watch a dream die is painful. But to hold on to them when life is trying to steer you in another direction will destroy you.
“The world breaks everyone,” wrote Ernest Hemingway at the end of A Farewell to Arms, “and afterward many are strong at the broken places. But those that will not break it kills.”
Like anything Hemingway wrote, those words are stark and cut to the bone. But that’s the point. There comes a time when you have to admit that things aren’t the way you thought they would be and never will be. It’s painful — yes — but necessary.
Your dreams are supposed to die so you can become the person you’re meant to be. What you can’t know at the moment — what is too painful to admit — is…
