Friday, November 25, 2011

In Your Dreams

In Your Dreams

We spend a lot of time dreaming. Dreams occur during REM sleep which we get about two hours of per night (if you sleep eight hours.) That’s 730 hours per year that we spend dreaming. And that’s just while we are asleep.

According to new research from Harvard, people spend nearly half of the time they are awake daydreaming, and not thinking about what they are actually doing. If you are awake for sixteen hours, as the average person is, you spend eight hours daydreaming everyday. That’s 2,920 hours per year.

Together, that’s 730 hours dreaming plus 2,920 hours daydreaming which totals 3,650 hours spent in la la land every year. That’s 42% of your time.

And just what do we spend 42% of our time dreaming about? Everything. We dream about things that have already happened and how we would have done them differently. We dream about the future and all its possibilities. We dream of tests at school and spats with friends and the things on our to-do list. We dream of the things we want and the things we never had.

What I dream about most is what I want to do. There always seems to be so much of it. I want to get great grades and be involved in all the fun clubs. I want to get on the right track to my career and be a best friend, sister, and daughter. I want to stay in shape, be a good influence, and make a difference in my community. And on top of all that, I want to have time for my hobbies. The list goes on and on.

Everyone has their own list. And at times, we all feel that we don’t have enough time, that all these ambitions can only be accomplished in our dreams. What we need is inspiration. Motivation.Determination. These come from all kinds of sources. But they wear off quickly. With so many obstacles that get in the way of achieving our goals, inspiration has to be constant for us to reach our targets.

One source that has never ceased to provide inspiration for me is the FFA. It doesn’t seem to matter if the event is as big as National Convention or as small as a five minute workshop for the sole purpose of helping a friend with a video application. It can be a speech by a retiring officer or a conversation with an alumni member. No matter the method, I am always left with a feeling that I should DO something. FFA events always leave me with a challenge.

Sometimes, I find it easy to fall into habits and start to think that just sliding through things by the seat of my pants with “good enough.” But then, when I least expect it, the FFA seems to grab me by the shirt collar and give me a good shake. It reminds me of what I am capable of. I can do more. I can give more. I can be more. It reminds me that I shouldn’t settle for good enough when I can do better.

FFA has transformed my life at every run-in and will continue to do so. It inspires me to be a better person and think of what could be possible instead of being satisfied with what already is. It forces me to dream of bigger, better things when I don’t think I am capable and to take action.

What could you accomplish if you spent your 42% dreaming of all the positive differences you could make?

“All our dreams can come true, if we have the

courage to pursue them.”

~Walter Elias “Walt” Disney