Childhood Dreams
The Randy Pausch story and transcript was really inspiring to me because it shows me that dreams can become a reality if we have the tenacity and drive to see them fulfilled. One of Randy's dreams was to be in zero gravity. As a professor, he was able to put together a team that submitted a proposal and won a competition to go to NASA and be in a training simulator with zero gravity. Initially, as it turns out, he would not be permitted into the zero gravity with the students. He was heartbroken because of this. However, because he was so close to his dream, instead of giving up, he found a loophole that would allow him to experience zero gravity with his students. Dream fulfilled. 

Oftentimes, I look back on my experiences and realize that I had given up on a goal or a dream just because someone said it wouldn't be possible. I have learned as I have grown older, that dreams are important. Dreams give us a chance to visualize what is possible and give us a chance to see us accomplishing something. I believe things that we want to accomplish must first start as a dream. It has to be visualized first, then we work to accomplish it. Before I was able to finish a 62 mile running race, I had to first visualize in my mind that I could cross the finish line. If I could get my mind to believe I could do it, I knew my body could achieve it.

One of my childhood dreams was to play football for the local university. During my senior year in high school, the university coaches were talking to me and watching my games as well as giving me tickets to their games. I was named all-conference and all-state as a running back my senior year. However, they ended up giving a scholarship to my cross town rival at the running back position. I was upset. However, we both served missions at the same time, and I got to know this cross town rival in the mtc and became good friends with him. I realized how deserving he was of this scholarship and looked forward to cheering him on when we returned from our missions. I learned that sometimes our dreams teach us great lessons and build us in ways we would never imagine as we go after those dreams.

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