What Happens to Delayed Dreams?

We all have dreams. Not just those at night that may entertain or bother us. I’m talking about dreams for our future or rather what some may call “goals.” Did you ever wonder, what happens to delayed dreams?

Sometimes we get busy in life, and we end up putting off the very dreams that we have wanted since childhood. These are the dreams that make us alive inside our hearts and souls. Sometimes we just go through the motions of life and postpone our dreams while telling ourselves that we will catch our dreams later. But when will later come? Should we continue putting off our dreams, or should we grasp and fight to hold on to them, thus making them a reality?

Poet Langston Hughes advises us in his poem “Dreams” (1)  to “Hold fast to dreams/ For if dreams die/ Life is a broken-winged bird/ That cannot fly.” I agree with this. I have noticed that when I have a dream, a goal or a project that I am excited about that if I keep delaying to start it, then the excitement wanes and that it gets harder and harder to start it. I find every obstacle popping up to delay me, and I allow these things to postpone my dreams. However, this should not be acceptable. Sure, we might need to delay for a day or a week. But what if it becomes months and then years? How long can we hold off our dreams?

Inventors have dreams that lead them to create amazing tools and gadgets that we use to make our lives easier and more interesting. What if they had delayed their dreams? Could you imagine life without a laptop or a smartphone? What about all of the creative scientists who have made great discoveries and found cures for diseases? What if they had delayed their dreams? What would become of our world if all of us, especially our geniuses, doctors, scientists and even our writers delay their dreams?

Dreams keep us alive and give us a purpose in life. This purpose might help us, but it can end up helping others, too. We need to struggle to achieve our goals and not allow them to be delayed or to dry up. Langston Hughes wonders in another poem “Harlem (Dreams Deferred)” (2), “What happens to a dream deferred?/ Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun?/ Or fester like a sore.” I believe it truly must dry up like something withering away… almost like a dry, crumbled leaf that turns to dust in the wind. Life without dreams means we are living like zombies. It is a spiritual death. Delaying dreams can only lead to the funeral of one’s creativity. That is a tragedy!

I implore you not to give up your dreams. Don’t even postpone them. Go and grasp them with firm determination. Dreams are great, but they become a reality only when dreams are put into action. So, set your goals down on paper, sketch out a plan and then start working toward your goals.

Good luck in achieving your dreams!

References where you can view the full poems by Langston Hughes:

(1)   https://www.poemhunter.com/poem/dreams-2/

https://www.poemhunter.com/poem/harlem-dream-deferred/