Week 1 Reflection

 

• Why do you think Randy Pausch was able to achieve so many of his childhood dreams?

In the article 'The Last Lecture,' Pausch describes his childhood dreams of going to space, becoming a disney imagineer, etc. A theme I saw in all these dreams were that when he hit roadblocks where most people would give up and accept defeat, he pushed through. This meant switching careers at a time, and always pushing past the road blocks that make most people surrender. 

• Do you feel that dreaming is important? Why or why not?

I do think dreaming is important. It allows to believe in ourselves, even if for a small amount of time. I think dreaming big encourages us to put in the effort needed to achieve our goals. We might not always achieve the highest level of our dreams, but we will achieve a small part of them if we continue working on it. As in Pausch's life, he didn't achieve every single dream, as his dreams evolved with time and he found new versions of his dreams to fulfill.

• Discuss at least one of your childhood dreams. Explain why you believe you can or cannot achieve this dream.

One of my most memorable childhood dreams was to play the violin at Carnegie Hall. At the time I was taking private violin lessons and continued to do so for about 5 years. I loved how playing violin made me feel. It was the first hobby i'd tried where I actually felt like I was good at it and could become successful with it. Now, I haven't even played my violin in over 2 years. 

I do believe I could still achieve this dream, as I think most musicians do have the ability to. However I would have to make this a great priority, and my actions would have to align with this dream which they are not at the moment. I don't plan on this dream ever coming true, as I don't desire it enough to make it happen at least in the immediate future.