{"id":13399,"date":"2025-06-25T01:25:26","date_gmt":"2025-06-25T07:25:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/2c61f7df-9abe-11e8-99ad-ca52c1e5b2af"},"modified":"2025-06-25T02:03:42","modified_gmt":"2025-06-25T08:03:42","slug":"is-follow-your-dreams-the-best-advice","status":"publish","type":"blog","link":"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/blog\/is-follow-your-dreams-the-best-advice\/","title":{"rendered":"Is “Follow Your Dreams” the Best Advice?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cFollow your dreams.\u201d<\/p>\n

These words seem to chase Millennials around, and we embrace them by attempting to do what we\u2019re passionate about. It\u2019s a very different attitude compared to my parents\u2019 generation, a group of people who worked wherever they could because they had to, prioritizing\u00a0family and self-sacrifice over their dreams.<\/p>\n

Our parents see opportunities for us they never had, and there\u2019s nothing wrong with giving kids a bit more freedom of choice. During my childhood, my dad worked as a jail guard. Was it his dream job? No. Was it a way for him to provide for his family? Yes. Did he even\u00a0have a dream job he couldn\u2019t pursue? I honestly don\u2019t think he thought about his career\u00a0in those terms. Work was work. It was hard, and you did it, and then you came home to spend time with your family.<\/p>\n

Perhaps it\u2019s not the job that creates contentment but rather the attitude\u00a0you approach it with.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I wanted to be a writer since high school, and my parents always encouraged me in my dream. My dad often suggested I become a journalist because it was a realistic goal that provided steady income. I declared, nay, I would write science fiction and fantasy books. I would get published at 18 and write novels for a living.<\/p>\n

And here I am, at 27, book-less and a freelance journalist. Welp.<\/p>\n

I love that my parents never told me I couldn\u2019t do something. I love that they supported me in any career choice. However, \u201cfollow your dreams” can be pretty awful advice because the selfishness that often accompanies lofty dreams might not be the best thing to build your life on.<\/p>\n

\u201cNever give up on your dreams\u201d the Oscar-winners say in their speeches. But do they stop to consider what your dream is and where your passion might lead you? It\u2019s a lovely, rainbows and unicorns-filled thought (and there\u2019s nothing wrong with having dreams), but when you let your dream stop you from experiencing joy,\u00a0there’s a problem.<\/p>\n

At the heart of many career-oriented dreams are fame, money and power. I can relate to two of these. There’s something about being famous that’s appealing to me, something about being remembered for greatness and having my\u00a0work known. As such, having a lot of money is \u2014 let\u2019s face it \u2014 desirable. I work as a freelancer and at a nonprofit. Money is always a struggle. The power thing, though \u2026 that\u2019s \u201cmeh\u201d for me. Too much responsibility and all that.<\/p>\n

Those three things, however, are all about me. Does \u201cLet each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others\u201d (Philippians 2:4<\/a>) ring a bell? I\u2019m not saying Generation X had it all right and Y\u2019s got it all wrong, but I do wonder if our current society\u2019s promotion of selfishness is affecting us.<\/p>\n

Even literature, movies and television have gobbled up this idea of \u201cme first\u201d and are spitting out story lines to emphasize the point. I\u2019m starting to get tired of plots\u00a0revolving around a character who \u201cneeds to find the strength within herself\u201d to meet a goal. You know what, sometimes there is no hidden strength, and what she actually needs is help from outside herself to make it work! Besides, the power within doesn\u2019t actually come from us anyway.<\/p>\n

Where’s God in all of this? Is Christ for or against dream following? Psalm 37:4<\/a> reads, \u201cDelight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.\u201d God wants us to have everything we desire, but those desires should also include doing what God asks of us \u2014 and sometimes God asks for sacrifice, even of our dreams.<\/p>\n

Take a look at what Jesus asked of the disciples. He took them away from their homes, their jobs, their families. I\u2019m pretty sure their dream jobs didn\u2019t involve sailing the stormy seas or feeding crowds of 5 ,000 men. I\u2019m pretty sure it was hard and frustrating. And I\u2019m pretty sure they found joy in it.<\/p>\n

I have dreams and goals for my life, and there\u2019s nothing wrong with that. I just have to be willing to accept that becoming the next pilot of the Millennium Falcon may not be in line with serving others instead of myself. I have to be willing to make sacrifices if they\u2019re called for. I have to be willing to find joy<\/a> in wherever life takes me.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2016 Allison Barron. All Rights Reserved.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s not the job that creates contentment but rather the attitude\u00a0you approach it with.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":43291,"menu_order":0,"template":"","categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13399","blog","type-blog","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-career-finances"],"yoast_head":"\nIs "Follow Your Dreams" the Best Advice? - Boundless<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"It\u2019s a different attitude than other generations, people who worked wherever they could, prioritizing family and self-sacrifice over dreams.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/blog\/is-follow-your-dreams-the-best-advice\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Is "Follow Your Dreams" the Best Advice?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"It\u2019s a different attitude compared to other generations, people who worked wherever they could, prioritizing family and self-sacrifice over dreams.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/blog\/is-follow-your-dreams-the-best-advice\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Boundless\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/boundless.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-06-25T08:03:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/is-follow-your-dreams-the-best-advice-682cb3116ea32.webp\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/webp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Is "Follow Your Dreams" the Best Advice?\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"It\u2019s a different attitude compared to other generations, people who worked wherever they could, prioritizing family and self-sacrifice over dreams.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/blog\/is-follow-your-dreams-the-best-advice\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/blog\/is-follow-your-dreams-the-best-advice\/\",\"name\":\"Is \\\"Follow Your Dreams\\\" the Best Advice? - Boundless\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/blog\/is-follow-your-dreams-the-best-advice\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/blog\/is-follow-your-dreams-the-best-advice\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/is-follow-your-dreams-the-best-advice-682cb3116ea32.webp\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-06-25T07:25:26+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-06-25T08:03:42+00:00\",\"description\":\"It\u2019s a different attitude than other generations, people who worked wherever they could, prioritizing family and self-sacrifice over dreams.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/blog\/is-follow-your-dreams-the-best-advice\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/blog\/is-follow-your-dreams-the-best-advice\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/blog\/is-follow-your-dreams-the-best-advice\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/is-follow-your-dreams-the-best-advice-682cb3116ea32.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/is-follow-your-dreams-the-best-advice-682cb3116ea32.webp\",\"width\":1500,\"height\":1000,\"caption\":\"a woman holding balloons and following her dreams\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/blog\/is-follow-your-dreams-the-best-advice\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Blog Posts\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Is “Follow Your Dreams” the Best Advice?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.boundless.org\/\",\"name\":\"Boundless\",\"description\":\"Find your place. 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