If you ask any six or seven year old kid the “What do you want to be?” question, more likely than not you’ll get a typical reply along these lines “When I grow up, I wan to be an astronaut or a doctor or an engineer or a pilot or a movie star or a millionaire or just like be my father who have many girlfriends!” Yes, as innocent as they are, most kids do wish for the most wonderful things in life and do have the most amazing of dreams.

But not me!

When I was in grade school, I don’t think I have the mental ability to look at life that way. I guess I was too young to worry about anything serious in this life. I was just a kid whose favorite subject is recess and who really enjoy the accolades I get from my friends every time I pulled down the pants of the poor boy standing in front of me during flag ceremony. I was just a kid who thinks that accidentally seeing a naked woman is funny and means absolutely nothing. As far as I remember, the only thing that I really want at that time is to graduate as quickly as possible and be in high school. How cool it is not to see my Mom after class waiting at the gate? Oh there you go, that was my first dream…I want to be in high school!

When I was in high school at thirteen years old, my perspective in life changed a little bit. That was the period in my life when I realized that accidentally seeing a naked woman is no longer an accident anymore. Well, I guess no one’s going to believe that lying face down on the roof of the women’s toilet was an accident anyway. Plus this time, it actually means something now because it literally wakes up a part of me. Suddenly, I was this kid who just wants to be fifteen years old so that I can start courting girls. Yeah I know, a boy as young as twelve years old today can start courting girls but it was so much different during that time. Not that it was punishable by death but because I still don’t have the courage and proficiency to do it. But on my 15th birthday, there was a little bit change in plan yet again. I quickly realized that it’s better to be eighteen years old so I can start courting girls. Well, I was not able to start courting girls as I originally planned because that was the time when my pimples started to set camp in my face.

Come my 18th birthday, I am not even thinking of courting anyone. As I grow older, wisdom had thought me that when you don’t look so good, it is very important that you study very, very hard. And since I knew how I look, I shifted my goal to something else which doesn’t particularly deal with the way people look. So I decided that I will graduate in college and continue taking the course I picked...not because I like it but because it sounds good. And then I will find a decent job so I can buy some expensive medication for my pimples. And then maybe I can start courting girls. After many years of a little bit studying and a lot more cheating, I finally graduated in college. At the age of twenty-two I got a job and then things started to look better. I was able to buy expensive medication for my pimples which miraculously worked, unlike the one I bought from the public market! With the chocolate hills in my face gone and the embarrassment that goes with them then a history, I’ve got my self-confidence and finally was able to start courting girls. Yeah, I eventually have a girlfriend at some point. Finally!

A few more years later, I started thinking of finding the right woman for me. Not necessarily a rich sexy beautiful woman but just the right one for me, no matter how ugly she may be. Things finally fall into their right places and after some time, I settled down and started my own family. Now I’ve got a not-so-beautiful-but-not-so-ugly wife, two great kids that I’m sure are mine and a job that pays me just for pretending I’m doing something. Looking back, I can’t help myself from smiling whenever I recall those times. Those simple things that I want; those small accomplishments that may not even mean a thing to someone else, but to me it means everything.

I may not have dreamt big nor set my goal so high but that is only because I set my sight on something I knew I can likely accomplish. I am not saying that dreaming big or setting your goal so high is wrong. But what if those same big dreams and high goals cause your biggest frustration, constant unhappiness and disappointment because you always failed to reach or achieve them no matter how hard you tried? We have to realize that in this world, there are only two kinds of dreams: the possible and the impossible. So why reach for the sky when you know it is impossible?

I remember a childhood friend of mine whose dream was to become a singer. I must admit that he really has the passion for it but unfortunately, he doesn’t have the proper vocal ranges that when combined properly can be considered as musically useful. Or brutally put, his voice is terrible. Every time he sings, our neighbor would just start begging him to stop because according to them, their cat had already tried committing suicide five times by jumping off the roof and they’re afraid that although it has nine lives, it would eventually die soon. They already blamed him for the demise of their dog who silently hanged itself under the stair! Up to this day, he’s still a frustrated singer.

While everyone has the freedom to choose their dreams, we also have to accept the fact that not everyone has the propensity to fulfill them. So wouldn’t it be better if we focus on a realistic dream and an achievable goal that we know have a better chance of success? Anyways, it’s not how big our dreams that really matters; it’s how much of them we have fulfilled and realized!

Today, I may not be the most successful engineer or the one with the biggest house among my friends or the one with the most expensive car or the one with the most beautiful wife; but I am sure of one thing. Along the way, I have enjoyed every step I made to get wherever I am today. I have enjoyed my life fulfilling my simple dreams!