Dreams are like flames.
Those of us who have been lured into their fiery embrace know the singeing our unsuspecting souls have endured as well as the transfiguring our very beings have undergone in their wake.
At ten, my sister Poppy and I discovered a powerful Magic. At first, we were unaware of what the Magic would require of us as our journeys unfolded.
Poppy realized, before I did, that while our pledge to the Magic opened many doors, it closed just as many—if not more.
Because of her connection to the Magic, my sister could see the timelines of our lives along with all of the could-have-beens and should-have-beens that we would never experience.
I did not enquire after her knowledge. I knew it haunted her even as it allowed her to weave a tapestry of future events that she would never live long enough to see.
I came to my future the way that most people do—by living it.
Over time, I saw the choices I didn’t have as I continued to pursue the dream of the Magic that Poppy and I had embraced when we were younger.
During my concluding year of high school, I finally grasped that living one’s dream oftentimes means that the dreamer must transcend their original vision and embrace a reality that they never could have imagined.
This transcendence is unavoidable even as it is irreversible.
My dream had changed me in ways that only time would allow me to embrace.
The portal I crossed was a threshold to a new life through which my friends and family could not go. I alone ventured on to grow into my calling—the thing I was born to do.
I write this as encouragement and as a warning.
I truly believe that we all have life missions. Many times, these missions require us to make sacrifices, to take uncomfortable journeys, to leave things behind—sometimes even family and friends.
I don’t believe in burning bridges, but I do know that sometimes a dreamer crosses a bridge that only they are prepared enough to traverse.
I encourage everyone to follow the dreams that ignite their souls, I just want you to know that while the paths of dreams have many muses, they also have many demons—many of which will arise from the things in your soul that must be transformed before you can reach your goals.
Achieving your dreams is possible.
Just realize that YOU will not be the same once you get to that longed for promised land.
—Jellybean Reds, Creator of Little Creatures
