Grow Up or Dream Down?
What do you want to be when you grow up?
A classic question, and did you catch it? The question still focuses on what you want to BE. And if you’re like me, firmly in the “big age bracket,” the answer might just be that you don’t have to grow up at all.
Age is just a number, and our dreams are accessible whatever date it says on your birth certificate.
As children, we dreamed without limits. Our imaginations overflowed with possibilities as to what we could do or be. We’d proudly declared our dreams as if listing items for a magical shopping spree:
Superhero! Doctor! Olympic athlete! Fighter pilot! Explorer! Astronaut!
Adults would politely smile, and encourage our creativity, reminding us to “shoot for the stars” and “dream big”. Back then, the idea of something being impossible didn’t exist. The world felt boundless, and we believed we could do anything. And those around us supported our dreams with positive smiles and inspiring words.
So, when did all that change?
Where did those dreams go?
As “big people”, we often find ourselves in careers or roles that are the polar opposite of our dreams as children. It’s almost like we’d got lost on the way to our dream career and took a wrong turn. Instead of becoming explorers or astronauts, we shrunk our dreams down into something acceptable and practical- and safe.
At some point in our teenager or early adult years, we started to say things like “I’m going to study accounting” or “I’ll probably go into marketing.” We said yes to things, as we thought that’s what you did. That was how you lived life.
Now there’s nothing wrong with these sort of ‘safe’ career paths if they’re your true calling but for many of us, those choices weren’t driven by passion. They were driven by logic and rational.
This is why, even now, years down the line, so many of us find ourselves asking, “What do I want to be when I grow up?”
Rediscovering Your Dream
Asking yourself “what do I want to be when I grow up?” removes the shackles of adulthood, and instantly places you back into your carefree childhood, a time where dreaming was encouraged.
It’s also a question that asks what you want to BE, not what you want to DO.
What do you want to BE? What’s your purpose? How do you want to feel every day? What legacy do you want to leave behind? How do you want to nurture, love, and make a difference?
For many of us, the question shifted long ago to focus on what we should DO—how to pay bills, what job title to pursue, and which career is deemed “practical.” The question transformed your thinking from what you WANTED to be, to what you NEEDED to do.
In short, it cancelled dreaming and deemed that your decisions SHOULD be logical, rational, and practical.
But let’s set those (boring) constraints aside for a moment, and take a trip backwards, to a time where dreaming was encouraged, and anything in possible.
For a moment, let’s focus on being instead of doing.
I want you to close your eyes and picture your dream life. Let your mind wander. What does it look like? What does it feel like? Can you see it, smell it, sense it? Thoughts and images will come and go, some may surprise you, others may be familiar.
Maybe you see yourself as:
A bestselling author, writing every day from your cabin in the garden.
A speaker travelling the world inspiring thousands of people sitting in the audience.
A watercolour artist living in a coastal town, watching the seagulls fly
A multimillionaire entrepreneur changing the game in your industry.
A smallholder raising goats and living in harmony with nature.
Whatever your dream is, I want you to see it, to feel it.
I dare you to acknowledge it. To Say to it “I see you.” To bring it out of the shadows and into the light. Only then can you decide your next step.
Your Next Step
You have three options when it comes to what to do with the image of your dream life.
Let it go.
Sometimes we outgrow our dreams. Other times we’re not ready for them. And the third possibility is that it’s time to let the dream go. Recognising that a dream is just a dream allows you to leave it behind with peace, knowing it was just a chapter of your journey.Go all in.
If you think of your dream, and you feel that flicker of excitement in the pit of your stomach, perhaps it’s time to dust off that dream and make moves towards it, without limits?Reimagine it.
Becoming an astronaut in your 40s is unlikely (sadly due to their regulations) but working for NASA or the European Space Agency is possible. ESA, for example, recruit experts in all fields including engineering, science, IT, finance, law, HR, communications, and facility management- all roles that support space missions. Any childhood dream can, with a few tweaks, be transformed into something achievable and fulfilling.
Your Dreams Are Within Reach
So, what now?
What do you truly want to BE? That dream life you’re picturing- it’s closer than you think.
Start by acknowledging it, then decide how to move forward.
It’s never too late to dream big and make it happen.
After all, who says we ever have to grow up?
Not me.
